Phinal Phanniemay - 2019
by Midnight Rosedrop
Summary: I got one shot to do this! Let's get through this together with Danny and Company joining us! My interpretations of these characters as we dive into this show that's brought us into this community that continues to grow.
1. Doorway

**Doorway **

Sam, garbed in her usual outfit, struggled to take that next step. To step those stairs and approach that door. That blue, metallic door that seemed to clash with the red brickwork. The lights and the hunk of metal that stood on top of the building ruined the skyline, not that there was much of one in her opinion. The buildings were just obscuring the natural beauty that was once filled by the environment.

She didn't want to do this. She didn't like this. She wanted to turn away- to run away. Her grip on her flowers tightened. No roses, no fancy paper or cool arrangement, she wasn't good at that yet. Not good enough to try, she could, at best, wrap them up nicely, and prep them so that they'd be given a favorable death. One that would give them a sense of dignity as they would most likely die due to the sheer ineptitude of the Fenton family.

She needed to see them. She knew that. She really did, but she really didn't want to. They all knew about Danny now, and honestly, everyone knew about Danny at this point- that was why she needed to do this. She didn't have to before the big reveal, but ever since then everyone was asking the question and she could see that it was weighing on the Fenton family. It wasn't a happy question. And there were still only three people who knew what the answer was. Well, four if you counted Clockwork. And four if Desiree actually remembered the whole change time scenario.

The issue was starting to get out of hand and there were new reasons for the question to be brought up. Legal ones. The Fenton family's relationship was growing more and more strained and it, ironically had very little to do with prejudice or how they reacted to the reveal, but rather, how hard it was getting to deal with the question as it gradually began burrowing itself into the mind of each member, except for Danny of course. He knew the answer the best, better than she did. Maybe it was because of how she was the best answer to the question.

_"How did Danny Fenton become a ghost?"_

Speculation and theories filled every media platform still, many were hairbrained ideas with no basis and others were closer to the truth, though far more implicating. Some said it was spiritual enlightenment, others said it was due to experimentation done by his parents. Some said that he was dead and that his parents should be locked up for _killing _their own son.

They were wrong. And the sad thing? Sam would've probably been right there with them if she hadn't been there from the beginning. No, even at the beginning she would've been at the Fentons' throats for everything, but after seeing how everything had panned out. How much they had sat through in order to build bridges that had, surprisingly, never been burned down. How much they cared for their son through it all. Even when they couldn't understand what Danny was going through. They stood by him whenever they could. Even as Phantom at times. Actions that she had never been blessed with.

She knew Danny wasn't dead. They'd checked it time and time again, her Tuck and Danny himself. They checked for his heartbeat. They watched his health, they had been the ones to fix Danny up again and again. Tuck was keeping track of all the health stuff. The injuries, body temperature, blood pressure and all that stuff that Sam couldn't understand. She was more field oriented, but that didn't stop her from making sure Danny's heart was still beating. She would watch his chest rise and fall just to make sure that he was still breathing.

His blood was the only thing that could be considered abnormal. When he was Phantom his blood was green. Jazz said that it was something else too, but Sam was just happy that the cells still maintained the same cellular structure as they did in any human body. That coloring though… It was the exact same green as the portal had been. She recognized it the first time blood had pooled around Danny's hip after a fight with Undergrowth. The swirling, ever constant portal that _she _had convinced him to enter.

True, she hadn't been too guilt-ridden ever since the whole wish issue with Desiree, but now that everyone was bringing it up… The guilt was getting to her. And now having to tell his parents was an entirely different thing to do. Though- not really. It shouldn't have been, but it was. How could she tell them that she's the reason that their son can never accomplish his dreams? That she was the reason that they'd targeted him, despite their undying love for him. She gripped the bouquet tighter, the paper crinkling as she did such.

The guilt that she had once swallowed, was now a fish hook, tearing at her insides, seeming to rip away her flesh if she did not heed its pull. And where did that pull lead her? To the front door of Fenton Works. Just before the door, were the stairs she should be taking now. But the pull had stopped. Maybe she just needed to satisfy the fishing line by returning to the scene of the crime or perhaps it was the sheer anxiety that had cut her loose.

She didn't want to be here.

She wanted to run away.

She didn't want to be here for this reason. Never for this reason. She should've been at the movies with Danny and Tuck. Instead, she'd made the excuse that the movie was far too cliché, too stereotypical for her to watch. She had put that aside to make this errand. No, 'errand' was to light a term. It was her duty to, whether she wanted to or not. She had come to apologize. For everything. She climbed the stairs and knocked. She had taken that next step.


	2. Secret

**Secrets**

Simple things can snowball real quick. It's not fun, well maybe it is at the beginning. The whole I'm a ghost thing was real fun with the whole espionage and covert way he had to operate. At first, it seemed like it was the biggest secret Danny Fenton would ever have to carry. This was the greatest responsibility he'd ever have to carry, and honestly, he was fine with that. He had two great friends to lean on and to help him through it all. That was more than he could've asked for, though now it seemed more than he deserved.

It turns out that when you have a single secret you learn about everyone else's secrets too. You're trustworthy, so people will look to you for help when they have no one else to turn to. Like Star and her intellect or Lester and his competitive figure skating thing. Frankly, Danny knew more about most of his classmates than any of the gossips in the school, much less as his class. Granted, it did help that people told his counterpart their secrets too. Like Dash who talked about preferring water polo to football or Paulina's trick to managing hair. They were all a bunch of little things sure, but that's what people told him.

It was his original secret that allowed him to find out everyone else's secrets. The stuff no one wanted to talk about. He didn't always do it intentionally. There was that time when he was trying to get revenge on some of the bullying Dash put him through, but that was only once. … Okay maybe twice… Or a few- many times. He was getting better though. He was trying at least. It was either tease Dash or take it all out on the Box Ghost. He was trying to manage the two, but it was getting progressively more and more difficult. Especially with all the new information he kept getting unintentionally.

It had started out small.

Tucker was afraid of hospitals. Sam wanted to go to a dance. Skulker was tiny. Then Sam was rich and Mr. Lancer was actually trying to care. Everything spiraled from there. Vlad Masters, the fruitloop, wanted to _kill_ his dad and marry his mom. Just… just ewe. He didn't need to know that- actually he needed to know that, he just _really_ didn't want to. It did help him save his father. In fact, that information was the only thing that saved his family. Danny wouldn't have known what to do if he wasn't able to get to the whole, 'you reveal me, I reveal you' deal. That should've been the biggest secret he had to protect, but no. Now he has to deal with the red huntress and keeping her identity away from everyone because if he doesn't then who knows what the world would do. GIW would probably hunt her just as she hunts him, but she wouldn't have a secret identity like he does. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

That's another thing. The whole GIW thing? That 's a secret in and of itself. Most everyone thinks it's a small division within the government. That it's tiny and the only funding it gets is for the agents' clothing and laundry detergent. Unfortunately, that's not the case. They're giant. Labs all across the world, because of course, it couldn't just be America, it had to be the entire planet that commissioned their mission. Danny was illegal everywhere. There were no sanctuaries for any ghosts on earth. No safe havens. The closest thing the ghosts had was Amity, and that was all Danny's doing.

Then again, at least there were smaller secrets, secrets that didn't terrify him at every turn. Like his feelings for Sam. Those were safe. His ability to actually be at the top of P.E. It was fun to spook the other kids every once in a while with his skills. Only every once in a while though. He couldn't do it all the time- people would get suspicious.

There were also happy secrets. Like his relationships with some of the other ghosts that didn't attack Amity frequently. Wulf was the worst tour guide, but the best to go exploring with. Pandora was pretty fun when she wasn't ticked off and when he didn't have to go through all the insane defense systems that she had. Then there was the Far frozen which was always a great place to go- when they didn't treat him as some superbeing. As far as he was concerned, they were all better than him, after all, they'd been ghosts longer and had far more experience than he ever will. Then there was Dani with an 'I'. He adored her. She was the best cousin he could ask for. Only thing remotely bad about that secret was that he couldn't hang out with her more often. And then there was the fact that he had _time _on his side every second. Hard to believe that the world would end if Clockwork is there to help out.

Then again, perhaps Clockwork was the greatest secret he had. Or maybe it was the evil future version of him- "Vlanny Plasom" he'd taken to calling him. It was probably the greatest secret he had. He couldn't face it. He couldn't bear it. He wouldn't, couldn't tell his parents about it. What happened at that point was wrong. He wouldn't let it ever happen, so there was no need to let anyone know about what happened. Even Sam and Tucker got fuzzy memories about the event. No one needed to know that one. Never.

That didn't mean that he would never tell his parents his secret. They'd been starting to pressure him into talking as of recently, it didn't bother him much, it was just frustrating because no matter what he'd say, he couldn't explain everything. There was far too much for him to actually recall, and somethings, that he just couldn't remember- like that whole no powers wish trip that was far too weird- much less tell anyone.

Sure, he was going to tell his parents. Right here, right now, with them sitting on the couch, arms crossed and yet an eagerness being easily read within their eyes. "Mom, Dad," He began. Jazz was giving him a thumbs up and this ridiculously big smile- it kinda looked like a toddler's face when they got to eat all their Halloween candy in one sitting. "I'm a halfa; half ghost and half human." He wasn't even watching their expressions when the bright light of his rings kept blocked his view. As the began to move across his body he continued, "And I hunt ghosts," the transformation was complete, "and I'm Danny Phantom."

They stared at him in shock. A kind of numb petrification as they stayed frozen on the couch. And to think, this was only the tip of the iceberg. Maybe that's why it snowballed so much.

**A/N: **Yes, I do know that future Danny is called Dan typically, but I couldn't think of any time it was used in the actual show and I wanted this to be a little lighter. It was either this or something really dark. Think a very descriptive lab scene with very Christmasy colors, little girls, puddles, and an ignorant fan favorite.


	3. Grave

**Grave**

It was far too sunny as far as Danny was concerned. There hadn't been any ghosts at all today, they hadn't really been in the town since Vlad's death, which was still so stupid. Perhaps it was because of the death that there weren't any ghosts present. Honestly, Danny would welcome any attacking ghost. He needed to hit something. He and his family left the grave with most of the others to go to the funeral bit. They had buried him, but now was the time for everyone who knew him to get together and find comfort in one another.

When the Fenton's had reached Vlad's Manor in Amity, they were the first ones there. Even after a half hour after, there had only been a few people there and even fewer that Danny actually recognized. Most everyone there seemed to be some business people that were just a bit too shady or some politicians or some other form of government people- Danny didn't really care about it all that much. The Mansons had gone for the sake of appearances and Sam had been forced to stay at their side through it all. Harriet Chin and the last mayor was there too. Of course, Valerie was there, though her father was nowhere in sight. Danny's whole family had come though, even Jazz, mostly because his dad forced them to, but thinking on it now, Danny would have probably come here on his own. If just to support his father, who was trying very hard not to burst into tears.

Apparently, Valerie had caught sight of Danny too and grabbed his attention. "Danny!" She called out. "What are you doing here? Weren't you and Masters at odds and ends after he shot you with that ecto weapon?"

He, being very unamused at that point said, "Val, we were at odds and ends long before that." As he joined her at the table she'd been sitting at, bringing his glass of water with him.

"Really? I thought you were all buddy-buddy with him before that."

Danny scoffed, "Yeah right. No way I was gonna be 'buddy-buddy' with that fruitloop."

"Fruitloop?" Val questioned. "He was the only one who actually took measures against the ghosts." Danny raised an obviously skeptical eyebrow, "He did cut back on all the crazy stuff that he put in place. He even opened up another Nasty Burger."

"Sure- after he was the one who demolished the original, and nearly lost all his supporters."

"He was the one who demolished it?" Val asked.

"Yeah, don't you remember the whole McMasters thing? The one that forbade teens from eating there? All Vlad's doing."

"I guess," Val said, trailing off.

Danny sighed, shaking his head, "I get it, you idolized him."

"Well, yeah." She piped, "He was the best thing that happened to Amity." Danny burst into laughter. "What?!" Val said in indignation.

"Nothing," Danny said, sweeping his hair back only to have it flop back into his face unnaturally. He tried to wave away her attention with his hand, "don't worry about it." He looked at the glass in his hand. Val watched as his gaze seemed to shift to something no longer visible, something far, far away. Something that no longer existed, "I think I'm going to miss him." He said, to no one in particular, though the revelation of what he had said lead him down a new train of thought. "He was the only one like me- well I guess there's always Dani, but I can't find her." He gave a harsh and cold laugh as his grip on the glass tightened. "To think it was cancer that got him. Who gets pancreatic cancer at his age?" He drank everything in the glass. "It wasn't Pariah Dark or Fright Knight, not the GIW or even mom and dad. It was simple cancer."

"Danny?" Val asked cautiously.

"And then, at the end, he apologized. After trying everything to stay alive only to find out that he couldn't." His eyes were watering. "Who does that Val? Why? Why wait till the end to reach out? To actually see me as who I am? To respect my choices?" Valerie was lost at this point, what on Earth was Danny talking about? "It doesn't even make sense. He was supposed to live for at least seven more years and have this ridiculously long white beard- one that'd make merlin or Clockwork jealous." He looked up at Val, his head now in between his two hands. "I know he was supposed to live longer. Why did he die? He was supposed to _live until_ I was twenty-four at the very least. So why? Did I mess something _else _up? Where did I screw up this time? It makes no sense."

"Danny, it wasn't your fault. Sometimes, you can't stop these things from happening."

"But-"

"Trust me Danny, it's not your fault" Val said, wrapping him in a hug.

"I can't believe I'm missing the Fruitloop." He said, sobbing. "I wish-" he froze under Valerie's grip for a moment. "I'm so sorry Val." He tore away from her grip, though she managed to catch him in a side hug,

"It's fine, I'm sure we can make it through this together. Just wait till we're adults, he can pick up where he left off, hunting down ghosts. I'm sure we'll make him proud." She said eagerly, "Maybe we can work with your parents. Just think about it, Valerie Grey; the best ghost hunter and her sidekicks: the Fentons! Our names will be in the headlines."

Danny thought back to the front page article from the newspaper three weeks ago: GHOST BOY ATTACKED BY RED HUNTRESS, and he failed to keep himself from chuckling. "I don't think that's what Vlad had in mind for either of us."

"Then who else should we be?" She asked.

"Good- er… happy people." He responded. "He'd want us happy to be happy and confident people."

"You sure?"

He looked her straight in the eyes. "Yes. That I know."


	4. Wishes

**Wishes**

There were somethings people never did, somethings that very few people ever did in Amity. There were unspoken rules that no one dared break. Well, not intentionally anyhow. There wasn't anything actually enforcing the rules, but the consequences weren't pleasurable by any stretch of the imagination.

There were five rules in total.

_Rule one: Never try to bring up ghosts around any of the Fentons_

The was just a bad idea in general, especially with what they'd recently gone through. With Jack, it should've been quite an obvious guideline but there was something about his personality that made it so easy to open up to him. He was a good guy, though quite excitable when it came to ghosts. One would be lucky to leave the change the topic of conversation within the following hour. Then, if you were to mention ghosts to his wife, Maddie, She would easily crack down on any inkling you had as to the positive traits of any ghost, Phantom or not. Their eldest daughter was more like her parents that she would ever admit to. If you were to so much as mention anything about ghosts she would crack down on you and get in your head, dissecting any feelings you had on them and then tell you why you felt that way. Usually, she was right, but it wasn't always correct. Thing was, she'd go on longer than her father ever did- probably because she had no one who could reel her in. At least, not anymore.

Either way, you'd wish that they'd all just shut up.

_Rule two: Never trust people with green eyes_

It was a simple rule, you always had to have some keyword or memory that no one else would know. There was a lot of time that people would be overshadowed. Pretty much everyone had been overshadowed at some point. (Especially at the high school) Even when you thought it was a 'good' ghost, they could be lying. Then again, Phantom overshadowed a lot of people during school hours. Almost everyone knew that so long as school was going on and there wasn't a ghost attack going on Phantom would be trying to get an education. The faculty had actually discussed whether or not they should just enroll Phantom into the school- turns out that the higher-ups didn't believe in ghosts.

Nonetheless, all those with green eyes would wish for a different eye-color, to not be isolated as they were.

_Rule Three: Be honest_

There was something about Phantom that turned him against anyone he caught in a lie. Whenever they thought that they had a good reason for keeping things to himself he'd tell them that they, "Had no idea what it was like to need to protect." Catch was, Phantom didn't know why he felt that way. He had said as much in an interview with some reporter, the most he claimed to understand was that "Lying and cheating is wrong. I know it can get people killed." That struck a chord with a lot of people. You can't disagree about death with a ghost. It simply wasn't done.

There were many occasions where lies seemed to easily fall apart without there being any actual understanding as to how. Most just assumed: it was Phantom. There was no evidence to back the claim but considering the Phantom's personality (because of course he had one), it made sense that he was the one orchestrating how the pieces fell. No matter how trying or difficult the secret was, it was spilled in the best possible outcome.

There was very little anyone could do about their secrets being kept.

Bearers of secrets would wish for a little privacy.

_Rule Four: Never talk to Valerie Grey_

First of all, she had green eyes. Second of all, she had a secret that she kept from everyone. Everyone knew it and yet they didn't know what it was. They could only wait for Phantom to figure it out and let them all know.

The girl had used to be a popular girl. Second girl on top of the A-List. She was confident, conceited, hot, and smart. No one understood why she had taken herself out of the A-List. She has quit. It was strange, as though she had changed overnight. It was around the time that she was halfway through her sophomore year of high school. She yelled about how fake her friends were, how everyone was just after her money- which they were- and how everything was wrong. Backward even. She had visited the Fenton Works that day after school, Paulina and Star had made sure that spread around the rumor mill. The following day Valerie came to school different. Hunched over, terrible posture, no confidence, and no hope. Like she'd been told that her best friend had just died. There was something about how she approached the two left of the mystery trio the next day that seemed to break her more.

At one point she had asked about someone called 'Red Huntress'. Obviously, their answer was not one she wanted to hear. She had left school after that conversation. She wasn't seen for the next two days. Not that her dad had noticed, he was working long hours at Axion Labs as usual. When she came back, she was hardened. Her eyes were hardened, she was cold to everyone. If asked about the change she'd get mad and lash out. At one point she broke Nathan's arm when he surprised her. She had used some form of martial art that no one knew she could use.

Anyone would wish Valerie to return to who she was before.

_Rule Five: Never,__** ever**__, make a wish_

The thing about the last rule was that no one knew why it was a rule in the first place. No one but the one abnormality that was Valerie Grey.

It had been an average day for Amity. One of Phantom's antagonists had come to the Mayor's speech, not the mayor that the town had- not one they ever had. It was Mayor Masters, someone only she and the Fentons seemed to know. She had been fighting against both Phantom and the genie-wannabe-ghost. It had been the typical hate/revenge motives that had fueled her banter. All three of them were taking jabs at each other, granted Phantom's were mostly if not all focused on the genie-ghost and not her, but that didn't stop her from saying it. "I wish you had just died!"

Those words were still haunting her. She didn't believe the ghost was an actual genie. She didn't even understand why her world seemed to reboot the day the moment she'd said that. In just six words she had killed Danny Fenton, the one friend she ever truly had. She had wished that Danny had died without meaning it. She just wanted Phantom to not exist as a ghost. Now? Now it was the only life he could recall. Danny couldn't even remember who he was before he'd become Phantom.

He was like Danielle and she didn't know until she had _killed_ him. She needed to fix it. She was looking for a solution every day. His friends, who had surely known he was Phantom before the wish, couldn't even recognize him as their friend. Vlad no longer had a mansion in Amity- not in this weird wish realm- and she didn't have her suit to fly to Wisconsin. He didn't answer her calls after he'd learned it was a high school girl calling him- he hadn't even let her explain herself.

She needed to do something, she needed to fix this. She needed to make one more wish.

* * *

**AN: **I actually really like this idea, I may run with it, giving it it's own story. Anyone interested in it?


	5. Second Generation

**Second Gen**

Tawney was the daughter of the Red Huntress, slayer of Amity's ghostly 'menace': Phantom, and Tucker Foley, the greatest man in the technological world since Steve Jobs. She loved her father and her mother deeply. She wanted to be just like her mom, a protector of the people and hunter of ghosts even though her mother and father were both saying she was far too young. She was always ready to point out that mom had started during her first year of high school which was only a year older than her but hey still shot her down.

At school, she had been closest to Colton Baxter and Sarah Fenton. Colton's mom was Star, a leading researcher at Axion Labs (which was where grandpa worked security) and Dash Baxter, the best handyman that Amity had ever seen. Sarah Fenton was the daughter of Sam Fenton, a very proficient ghost hunter that typically chose a pacifist path despite her hot temper. Sarah's dad had died the night of Sarah's birth and no one really knew why. Well, she had a feeling that Mrs. Fenton knew, though no one dared asked her about it.

All three of them grew up together even though Tawney was younger than them by a year and a half. They were still friends when Colt and Sarah were in high school. So, when the two high schoolers started keeping something from her, she could tell. She'd try to figure out what it was (they most definitely were not dating, they blushed far too much for that).

Whenever they tried to hang out together, they'd act really weirdly, like they were tiptoeing around her with every action. Colt was always the one covering for Sarah when she disappeared. But, even if he was good at lying, Sarah would always fumble up the lie somehow and frankly, their excuses were getting more and more farfetched. Sarah seemed to grow progressively more scared of Tawney as time passed and Colt grew defensive. It didn't take long for Tawney to give up on the friendship. If they wanted their secrets they could have them, she could handle being left out.

At least, she thought she could.

She probably could've if Sylph hadn't shown up as she was being replaced by Sarah's cousin: Dan Porter. He was only a month older than her, so the age had nothing to do with it. She was confident that she could do anything he could do. He was really good at lying too. Their excuses had gotten much better since they pulled him into their group. Dan was usually a goody-two-shoes and seeing him a part of whatever secret they had grated her gears. Granted, it wasn't Dan that she was mad at, but Colt and Sarah had chosen him over her. It wasn't like they couldn't all four be a group, besides, Dan had a baby brother that he babysat a lot and couldn't actually hang out with them a lot.

Tawney hadn't been able to find many friends that were accepting, or even tolerating her compulsion to take apart anything she could get her hands on- which was fair- it made sense. She always wanted to see how things worked but had a hard time thinking through all the consequences before dissecting a mechanism.

Then there was Sylph. She was a new ghost that had very white hair that seemed to defy physics. It almost looked like a halo of sorts. She had these piercing blue eyes that made it feel like there where icicles piercing your soul. She was always wearing what looked like white combat boots with her blue and white outfit. Tawney didn't know what to think about her, her parents had told her that most ghosts came to Amity for some form of personal gain, and while there were some good ghosts, to take all of them with a grain of salt. Most good ghosts wouldn't come to a town riddled with hunters.

When she'd finally snapped it had been a Saturday and it was Dan who'd approached her with the others chasing after him. Well, knocked on her door was probably the more appropriate term. Before they'd gotten there it had been a pretty typical day, Sylph had gotten into another fight that had gotten on the news. Tawney's pet project blew up in her face (quite literally) and mom had been out on patrol. Worse, she was eating lunch when Dan pounded (yes pounded) on the door. The moment she was greeted with Dan's face he shoved some kind of gun-ray thing into her face. The other two were running behind him, Colt supporting Sarah. He panted as he asked her, "Can you tell me what this does?"

Tawney was looking at them incredulously, "So now you want me?" She asked. "After ignoring me for months you finally decide to talk to me?" She had inherited her mother's temper and it showed as she snatched the device out of Dan's hands. "And just because you need me for something?"

"Tawney…" Sarah said softly, "That's not what we meant."

"Yeah, you don't need to do anything!" Colt piped up. "You could just turn us down and forget about all of this."

That sparked a desire for more information that drew her full attention to the gun-thing in her hands, so much so that she was completely oblivious to the glares her two (former?) 'friends' were sending to Dan. "Is this a part of the secret you guys are keeping?" She asked, suddenly turning a suspicious glare at them. "'Cause this is a Masters Ray-gun with a focuser lens instead of a tunneler." She pulled herself up to the desk in her room, knowing all too well that they were following her.

"Oh! Is that it?" Sarah asked while sweating bullets, which in Tawney's eyes was great, that meant she was on the right track to figuring out what her friends were keeping from her. "Oh, then I guess we'll just put it back where we found it." Sarah was reaching for the gun but Tawney pulled the weapon closer to herself.

"It's not." Tawney noticed there was something different, wrong even. "Ma uses these things. This isn't the right color." Typically, anything powered via ectoplasm was green, though Masters' stuff had a tendency to be red. This, while mostly red, was a different shade. Frankly, it was borderline purple. Maroon, that was probably the best way to describe it. Tawney pulled out the power source that was most definitely _not_ the standard. "This is wrong," Tawney muttered.

"What's wrong with it?" Dan egged her on.

"This isn't running on ectoplasm. It's not the pure stuff that Masters usually uses." She grabbed the pieces and raced to her bedroom. At the moment, she was very grateful for the microscope that Pops had gotten her for Christmas. She shattered the containment unit of the energy source. And but some of the contents onto a slide.

"That's dangerous!" Sarah scolded.

Tawney whipped around to face them, "If this is what I think this is, you have no right to scold me." All three of them froze, that wasn't a good sign.

"What do you think it is?" Dan asked, taking caution as he approached her from her left.

Tawney tsked and turned her attention to the gun again, ripping it apart piece by piece. "Magnets," she muttered as she took apart the condenser, "lenses, ectoplating, a temp system." She froze as she pulled out a vial of some sorts and held it out in front of her. "You've got to be kidding me. Compilers are illegal."

"What's a compiler?" Colt asked, suddenly having a new source of worry.

Tawney faced them. "This is meant to hurt humans and ghosts alike." Her face showed nothing but seriousness, to which all three of them fidgeted. "Where did you get it?"

"Doesn't matter." The other girl said, "Just tell us what it does."

"It harvests the essence of ghosts and wounds the essence of humans. It's been deemed unethical for anyone to use."

"How can we heal the wound?" Colt asked, grabbing Tawney by the shoulders.

"You can't." Tawney said, "It's never been done before." Colton looked heartbroken at the news, all of them did. She couldn't stand it, she had to help them somehow, they may not like her, but they were friends once, "Ma can probably figure it out."

"NO!" All three of them exclaimed, stopping Tawney from sliding away from her desk.

"But-"

"Don't worry about it, we can fix this on our own." Sarah said. Tawney didn't realize how pale Sarah was till then, and when had she gotten on the floor? Sarah was leaning on Tawney's bed and it seemed as though it was the only thing keeping her from passing out. She looked so tired. She looked like she was in pain.

"No." Tawney muttered, "Please tell me you weren't hit." The only answer she got was a rueful smile. "I'll go get ma." She said as she ran out.

Fear flooded the three teens in the room, "Stay with her." Colt ordered as he ran after the youngest of them all.

"Ma!" Tawney screamed, running up the stairs to get to her mother's workbench. "Ma! We need h-" She felt a large hand cover her mouth and pull her away from her destination. Colt was too big and too strong for Tawney to escape from, though that didn't stop her from squirming as much as humanly possible.

"You can't Tawney!" Colt said in a stage whisper. "She'll kill-"

Valerie had heard her daughter's cries and had rushed out to see her in Colt's grip, whatever the boy had been about to say died in his throat the moment he saw her. Paralyzing fear ripping through just before barely contained rage-filled every fiber in his body as he glared at the woman. Valerie, fearing the worst, instantly aimed the ecto-gun at the boy. She didn't think Colt would act like the A-List Dash she'd grown up with, but it seemed her judgment was wrong, again. "Let my daughter go." Her voice was slow, every word dripping with the stain of a pain-filled promise.

Colt released Tawney who scrambled up to her mother, "Ma, Sarah's hurt."

"No, she's not." Colt said, fury still burning in his eyes.

"What?" Tawney asked, "but-"

"She's _not_ hurt." Colt ground out again.

Val was assessing him, not as a mother, but as the Red Huntress. He was lying. "I think I'll see that for my-"

"COLT! SHE'S PASSED OUT!" It was Dan's voice that rang through the house as everyone booked it to Tawney's room.

The pale girl was the first thing Val saw, the labored breathing and the gun were the second. "Call Sam." She ordered her daughter as she rushed to the side of the young girl, checking her pulse, her temperature. "Where was she shot?!" She asked Dan, who had all but turned into a stuttering mess. She couldn't tell if it was out of fear for his cousin or of Red. She grasped him by his shoulders. "Daniel, if you want her to live you need to tell me where she was shot."

"It was her back." Colt said, shock filling his features.

"Okay," Val said, "Dan, help me flip her over." They turned her over as Tawney began to frantically babble into the phone. Val ripped apart the shirt Sarah had been wearing to reveal blackened skin. It seemed to be growing. "Please no," She whispered. "wake up Sarah. Please!" Valerie was pleading, she slapped the girl, "Hey!" There was no response. "Colton, go get some smelling salts!" She shouted.

Colt didn't, instead just ripping off one of his shoes and his sock. He held the sock up to Sarah's nose.

"Ugh." Came a groan, from the girl, "I hate P.E"

"Sarah, can you hear me?" Val asked the stiffening of the young girl's body was the only answer she needed. "Of course you know." she groaned under her breath, "Listen, do you know where your core is?" She asked.

"What?"

"The cold center you use to transform, I need you to focus on that." Val said, "I need you to push that cold feeling to your back." Valerie gripped her hand, "Don't transform, just make your back as cold as possible. Please."

Sarah decided to take a leap of faith. She focused, she tried to but there was a lot of pain. She did the best she could, tuning everything else out. She could tell that there were words being said, they seemed gentle but she ignored them. She had to if she wanted to live.

Colt looked on the scene, feeling more helpless than when Sarah had fallen from that cliff. "Why?" He asked, "Why are you helping her?" Though no one acknowledged him Valerie had stiffened, trying to ignore the pain tearing through her heart. Sarah needed her right now.

"Mrs. Fenton is coming." Tawney said, "What's going on Ma?"

"Call Fenton Works too." Val said, "They're her best chance."

"But-"

"Just do it!" Val ordered, Sarah was running out of time. Tawney nodded and made the phone call. "Daniel, I need you to get the icepacks out of the freezer." Dan nodded and hurried off towards the kitchen. "Colton."

"Yes?"

"Did the gun have the compiler?"

"Tawney mentioned it," He trailed off, was the Red Huntress really helping?

"Good, it should be a glass tube, like the ones you have in chemistry, grab it." She said, using her head to point towards the table. "We're going to need it." Colt nodded and looked through the gun pieces, it was easy enough to spot. "Give it to me."

Colton hesitated, the Red Huntress was the one who killed Sarah's dad, how could he trust her. This was part of the weapon, wasn't it? The weapon that was hurting Sarah so much, wouldn't it do more damage? "No."

"Colton, please!" Valerie cried, "She's going to die!"

There must've been something in the grown woman's voice that convinced him because there was no way in his right mind, he'd ever give her the vial. Dad had taught him to rely on his instincts and Mom had taught him to listen to his head. He usually listened to his mom. This was one of the few times he'd choose to listen to his dad. He prayed that it was the right choice.

"Thank you." She said as she took the vial, "Here, take her hand." She said, and Colton took to sitting by Sarah and, gripped the hand Ms. Foley had just let go of. Ms. Foley took to holding the vial just above Sarah's injury, less than a centimeter above the skin.

"You knew?"

"Not quite. Who is she?"

"Why should I tell you?"

"So I don't shoot her."

"Like Phantom?"

Ms. Foley didn't have a response to that, though Sarah's grip tightened.

Dan came into the room just then with an armful of icepacks. "Great," She said, "put them on her back." Dan asked no questions and quickly began placing them on Sarah's skin, Ms. Foley put the glowing vial on top of the icepack closest to the injury.

"Is she going to be okay?" Dan asked.

"Yes, she has to be."

Tawney came running back into her room with a plastic bag. "The Fentons are on their way and the Porters are going to meet us at Fenton Works." She was putting all the pieces of the gun-ray thing into the bag. "Now, will someone please tell me what's going on?" When no one met her eyes, not even her mother she felt a bubble of rage inspired heat rising in her chest. "Really!? You hate me that much!?"

"It's not you that they hate," Ms. Foley murmured, her eyes burning with regret. "It's me."

Nothing else was said till the Fentons arrived and everyone got to Fenton Works. They had made a bee-line to the lab, rushing Sarah to the table. It was clear, most of the weapons that had once been seated on the table were the ones now on the floor.

"Who was attacking her?" Jack Fenton asked Colton. Colton had steeled his eyes, refusing to answer. "Was it a ghost or a hunter?" He tried again.

"Hunter."

He gave the boy a curt nod, "Thank you." Instantly, he and his wife were getting to work, throwing around words that Colt couldn't understand even though it seemed the two youngest in the room had some recognition of the science babble being thrown around.

It was hours before the commotion had calmed down. Mrs. Fenton, Sarah's mom, had been there the entire time, holding onto her hand just as Colt had done earlier. That evening, Mr. Foley had come to Fenton Works as well, nearly just as panicked as Dan had been when Sarah first passed out. Speaking of which, the Porters were upstairs in the living room having a 'family meeting'.

Colt had forgotten to let his parents know where he was so when they called him, he had to step out. He didn't want to bug the Fentons if they were really helping Sarah.

"Colton Eric Baxter!" Came the voice of his mother. "Where on earth are you?"

"I'm at Fenton Works."

"Are you okay?! You don't sound-"

"I'm fine Mom."

"Do you want us to come and pick you up?"

"Can I stay the night?" He couldn't keep his voice from pleading with his mom.

"Colt, it's a school night."

"But Mom-"

"No Buts,"

"Mom." He said again, "I need to be here." Silence. "Please?"

"Colton." Pause, "What's wrong?"

"I can't tell you."

"Then I'm coming over."

"No Mo-" There was a click followed by a hum, "And she hung up. Great." Just what he needed. He tried calling her again, but it was clear she was ignoring his calls. She always answered the phone. Even for scam calls.

"Colton." The boy jumped at the sudden use of his name. Mrs. Fenton, Sarah's grandma, had been the one to speak to him apparently. "Are you okay?"

"No! I'm not okay!" Colt burst, "Tawney thinks we hate her," He began making wild gestures with his arms, "Quinn _does_ hate me, teachers don't trust anything I say, no one does, and apparently, vultures can talk. And let's not forget that ghosts are always attacking the school, Dan had a panic attack and now Sarah's life is in the hands of ghost _hunters_! And, now my mom's coming over because she doesn't trust me when I say I need to be somewhere!"

"Star's coming over?"

"It's a school night." Colton deadpanned.

"Oh. I forgot about that, I haven't had anyone in school for a while." Mrs. Fenton said. "I think she'll understand." Colton scoffed. "Trust me."

"Sure."

Maddie reached out to rest her hand on the boy's shoulder, but he had just shrugged her off. "I just came up here to let you know that we've stabilized Sarah. She's going to be fine." She had a soft smile on her face.

"So, what are you gonna do now?"

Mrs. Fenton shook her head and gave a shameful and empty chuckle, "I guess we're doomed to be untrustworthy forever."

The sullen tone caught Colton off guard and compelled him to follow her downstairs. He sat down in a chair he'd pulled up to Sarah's bedside and fell asleep nearly instantly, the worry for Sarah's life no longer looming over him. When Star came, she demanded to see him. Maddie had managed to get the woman to quiet herself and follow her downstairs. The sight that Star was greeted to was that of a bandaged child, her child's best friend, laying on a table with her son and a widow sleeping at the child's bedside.

"I'm sorry." She whispered to the older woman, "I thought he was acting like I did at his age. I didn't think-"

"It's fine, I've made the same mistake far too many times." Maddie said gently, "Would you like to stay?"

"I couldn't."

"Star, we have nine people staying here already, and that's not counting you or your son. Two more isn't that big in the grand scheme of things."

"But-"

"Don't worry about it, besides, you're far too tired to drive home."

"Okay" Star conceded.

* * *

The following morning, Tawney woke up in the Ops Center of Fenton Works, sleeping in between her Ma and Pa. The floor would've been uncomfortable, but there was some jelly mat separating them all from the cold metal. She couldn't remember going to bed, someone must've carried her.

She tried to get out of bed without waking either of her parents up, though it was as fruitless as usual. Keeping a hunter sleeping was a troublesome effort. Ma had woken up far more alert than her Pa ever was when he woke up. "Tawney, you're up early."

"Ma, what happened?"

"That's not for me to tell." Her ma said reverently, "You should ask your friends, they're probably ready to tell by now."

"Tell me what?"

Valerie just gave her daughter a smile as she escaped the blankets and went downstairs, her beloved daughter trailing behind her. She was surprised to find Star in the kitchen cooking with Jazz and Michael, Jazz's youngest child. "Star?"

"Oh, hey Val. Long time no see."

"Yeah," She paused, trying to piece things together but she simply couldn't. "I'm sorry, what're you doing here?"

"Colton wouldn't come home last night," Star said as though that explained everything. It didn't. "Figured I'd be here for him in the morning."

"How much do you know?" Valerie asked.

"Nothing really," Star pouted as she stirred what looked to be a batter of some sorts. "You're all sealed up as tight as a mason jar." Valerie didn't have much to say to that. "You okay with pancakes for breakfast?"

"Yeah," Val said, a small smile crossing her face, thinking of simpler times. Times from before high school. Before ghosts.

"Great! I think it's the only thing that won't come alive." Star said.

"But that's the best part of eating at Grandma's!" Michael complained, "Mom, the food's gonna come alive right?"

Jazz gave a very heavy sigh, as though they had gone through this discussion over and over again. "Michael," He most definitely wasn't paying attention to her, instead intensely focused on the batter he was beating. "food's not supposed to come alive. It's not good for a child still in development."

"I beg to differ." Christopher- Jazz's husband- said, "A bit of magic in our lives would be great." He said pulling her into a hug and kiss. "See, magic makes everything awe-inspiring."

"Chris, it's not magic, its science."

"Are you sure?" He smirked, "Because I'm pretty sure sparks were just flying around us." They were pulled together again, their lips locking and Michael chose that time to look at his parents.

"EWE!" He complained. "No cooties in the kitchen!"

"Sure thing, Sport" Chris said, "We could take this to the bedroom." He was doing the stupid waggling eyebrow thing again. Valerie had a deep respect for Jazz's patience as she declined and returned to whatever it was that she was cooking on the stove.

"You guys are gross." Tawney said, her face scrunched up distastefully, to which Valerie struggled to keep herself from chuckling.

"I'm surprised you're up." Jazz told Tawney, "I would've expected you'd all be out after everything that happened yesterday."

"I don't know what happened," Tawney said, malice lacing her voice. "No one's told me anything."

"Same." Star said, though her voice a bit more lethargic, "Colt hasn't told me anything."

"That's because you're his mom," Tawney whined. "I'm his friend, he's supposed to tell me."

"Hey! I'm his mom, he's supposed to tell me everything!" At that, Valerie couldn't contain her laughter. "What?" Star fussed.

"How the tables have turned." Valerie teased.

"I could say the same thing." Colton's voice cut through the conversation, "What's your deal Red?"

Valerie's jovial demeanor instantly fell apart and Star grew a bit upset at Colt's words. "Colton," Star warned, "You remember our talk about respect?"

"Come on mom, you don't have any idea what we're talking about."

"You wanna test that theory?" Star asked, putting down the bowl of batter as the entire room had frozen. "Where do your parents keep their pans Jazz?" She asked, beginning to look through the cupboards.

"Left of the stove." Jazz said carefully.

"Thanks." Star opened the described cupboard, looking for an adequate pan. "I haven't tried to figure it out. You're a great kid Colton, I trust you." She found a pan and pulled it onto the stove, spraying it with some non-stick spray turning on the stove. "You're far more capable than your father and I were when we were your age." She began pouring the batter onto the pan. "I want you to trust me, Colton. I love you and I'll do everything in my power to help you so please, don't shut me out." There were three disks of batter on the pan.

Colton had gotten teary-eyed through that, "Mom, I…" Clearly, the teenage boy didn't know what to say to that. Instead, it seemed he opted to give Star a hug that she most definitely wasn't expecting. "Thank you." He quickly pulled himself away, trying to pretend that the hug never happened and turned to Jazz, "How's Dan doing?"

"He's handling it well, though you guys should've told us." Jazz scolded. "It's not healthy to keep so many secrets to yourself. Especially those." She pointed the spoon from the pot and pointed it at Colton. "I think you guys are as bad as Danny was. Honestly!" Jazz resumed stirring the contents of the pot. "What is it with teenagers in today's society?" Jazz's eyes turned to far away, dazed as though she was in a different time.

"I smell food." Tucker hollered as he came down the stairs. "Morning Val." He said giving his wife a peck on the cheek, "Hey guys." Still half-asleep, he was reaching into one of the cabinets for a glass and filling it with water. "What're you doing here Star?" He asked as he raised the glass to his lips.

"Colt." She responded, jabbing her thumb in his direction as she flipped the pancakes.

"Oh, that makes sense." Tuck said. Valerie rolled her eyes at her husband. "How's Sarah?"

"Alive." Came Sarah's response, from the descending staircase, "Well, mostly."

Tucker began to laugh, only to choke on the water. After a few pats on the back from his wife, he was able to learn how to breathe all over again. "You are too much like your father, you know that right?"

"Is that a problem?" Sarah asked, her arms crossed and hip swung to the side.

"No!" Tucker answered instantly, hands going in a frantic motion of surrender, "Too much like your mother too." He muttered into his mug surreptitiously, making sure Sam wouldn't hear him. Sam was just behind her daughter, no one ever wanted to make that woman mad.

Tawney however, had tears pricking the corners of her eyes, as she raced in for the first hug, not knowing Sam had already gotten it. "Sarah! You're okay!"

"Thanks to you." Sarah said, "If you hadn't gotten your mom…" Tawney pulled on the girl tighter, not wanting to think about it. "Thank you."

Tawney released Sarah, "I still want to know what happened."

"I know," Sarah said begrudgingly. "I'll tell you, I promise. But I want to know how much _your_ mom knows."

Valerie ran a hand through her hair with a sigh, "More than I wanted to."

"Sarah, I can promise you that Valerie's more than okay with you." Sam said. Valerie never imagined the day that Sam Manson, well Fenton, would ever stand up for her.

"But Dad is-" Valerie could not suppress the flinch at Sarah's unspoken accusation, though Tucker was quick to notice and put an arm around her shoulders, comforting her.

"Yes, and no." Sam commented.

"Okay," Star interrupted. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about, but all the pancakes are done so if you want to get Dan and the other Fentons, we can eat."

"I'll get Dan!" Michael cheered while Sam begrudgingly went back down into the basement to get her in-laws.

Suddenly Dan came running down the stairs shouting, "I'm going to be so late for school!" and "I'm a terrible student." All the adults were laughing while nearly all the children, Michael being the exception, gained a horrified look about needing to go to school.

"Dan!" Chris called, still worried about how much his son was addicted to school, "You aren't going to school today! Don't worry, we've let everyone know."

Soon enough, they were all sitting throughout the dining room and living room. Eating the pancakes along with the syrup Jazz had been making.

"Colton," Sarah said, elbowing his side to try and grab his attention, a trick that typically worked much like it was today. "Are you okay with your mom knowing?" The question was asked in a quiet voice as to not let anyone else influence his answer

Colton looked at her bumfuzzled, "It's your secret. Not mine."

"But she's your mom."

"And?"

"I could be putting her in danger."

"She's an adult Sarah," He gave her a lazy smile. "She's able to handle herself."

"But"

"Sarah, we live in Amity, everyone knows how to fight."

"Fair point," She conceded as she took a bite, turning over the thoughts within her mind. "Mrs. Baxter?"

"Yes, Sarah?"

The girl played with her food, unwilling to look Mrs. Baxter in the eyes, "Would you like to know what happened? Even if it's going to put your life in danger?"

Star studied the girl carefully before answering. She looked so much like her father at that moment, insecure within himself and always worrying about others before himself. Everyone's eyes were on her, waiting with bated breath for her answer, "If you would like to let me know I don't think the danger you so fully believe in will be able to dissuade my willingness to listen." Colton beamed Proudly at his mother, "Then again if you wish for me to remain ignorant, I will be content with that as well."

"Okay." Sarah said. It really was completely on her own shoulders if she were to tell Mrs. Baxter. "I hunt ghosts."

Mr. Foley once again broke into laughter. "I'm sorry," He said, "That's what Danny started with when he told everyone too." Her mom wore a reminiscing smile whilst Tawney and Mrs. Baxter were extremely confused.

Sarah waited for Mr. Foley's laughter to die down. "Not, just that, I'm a part ghost. You all probably know about my ghostly alias by now. Two white rings slid across her body, "I'm Sylph." Surely enough, the rings revealed Sylph.

"That's so COOL!" Michael said excitedly as his father agreed with him.

"And I take it Danny was Phantom?" Star asked, popping another bite of pancake into her mouth, her complete lack of shock throwing off everyone.

Valerie gave her a stricken look. "Didn't you say you knew nothing?"

"Nothing for certain." Star replied.

"Wait," Tawney said. "I'm really confused right now, who was Phantom? I thought he was an evil ghost."

"My dad," Sarah said. "He was part ghost too."

"The perfect halfa." Tucker clarified.

Tawney looked at her mom with horror as the woman began to curl up on herself. "But that would mean-"

"Yeah," Valerie muttered, pulling her knees into her chest. "I had hunted him for years before I found out, and when I did, he was asking me to kill him." She saw the scene playing out before her all over again, closing her eyes didn't make it go away.

Sam chose to come to her rescue once again. "Danny's presence was hurting someone he cared deeply about, if he had stayed, they would've died. All of us were refusing to do anything that would hurt him, whereas Val was the only one capable of weakening him to the point he needed to be."

"Who'd he die for?" Colton asked. No one in the room spoke. "You have to tell us." He said, before turning an accusatory finger towards Jazz, "Didn't you say it was bad for people to keep big secrets?"

Jazz gave a dry chuckle. "When Danny was graduating, he made Amity Park into his haunt, a lair of sorts. It was to keep the smaller, more annoying ghosts out of Amity. He didn't want them getting caught by other hunters but hunting down every single ghost was taking a toll on him. By making Amity his layer he'd keep the weaker ghosts out." Jazz leaned deeply into the couch, as though she didn't have the strength to sit up on her own. She gazed at the ceiling as she continued. "It worked out perfectly, none of the weaker ghosts were getting in and Danny was finally able to get some sleep. Catch was, it wasn't allowing ghosts to form within the lair either." Tears were beginning to well up. "When you were conceived you were missing your ghost part and as such, you were dying. Your mom was growing weak as time passed. Danny blamed himself."

"He always did that," Val said with a dry laugh. "He was such an idiot. He revealed what and who he was to me and begged me to kill him. Who does that?"

"And you listened to him?" Dan asked.

"No," Val snapped, "Not at first. I put it off far longer than I should've."

"She helped us look for an answer until I was on my deathbed," Sam said. "It was at that point that we realized there was no helping it. Even Clockwork couldn't stop the course our lives and Danny's death took."

"Who's Clockwork?" Tawney asked.

"A riddle." Both Tucker and Sam responded at the same time, both with the most monotone manner humanly possible.

Sam bit her lower lip as Tuck gave a chuckle with no heart in it. Sam knew there was a question that still needed to be asked. "How did you unlock your ghost side?"

Colton's head snapped up as Sarah looked down. "It wasn't her fault!" Colt said before Sarah could say anything. "We were just goofing around and I didn't see the cliff. It looked like a little hill but then it completely dropped off at some point."

"Long story short," Sarah interrupted before Colt got lost in his rambling, "I fell off the cliff and decided I didn't want to die any more than I already had. Hence the name, 'Sylph'."

"I'm sorry," Tawney said, "I don't get it. Why are you called Sylph?"

"It's an imaginary spirit of the air." Sarah answered.

"I think Danny's name was better." Tucker pouted.

"It was so obvious though." Sarah complained. "I needed to be original." Tucker just laughed.

"Is there anything else you need to tell us about?" Jack asked, "Like about the hunter who shot you?"

Colton grew stiff, "We don't know much about him, but he knew about Sarah."

"Are you sure you know nothing?" Valerie asked, she knew that some people would protect others even when the didn't deserve it. Danny was an excellent case in point.

"Yes" Colton said, glowering at his empty plate.

"We do know more." Tawney said, putting her empty plate beside her and scrambling downstairs only to come up with a plastic bag which she promptly emptied onto the floor. "This is the gun he used."

"That's great and all, but it's all in pieces now." Colton said.

"Exactly!" Tawney said seeming to arrange them in an order that made no sense to any but her. "But this was originally a Masters gun." She didn't catch how nearly everyone stiffened at the name. "Thing is, they don't use lenses, they typically use mirrors. The only gun that uses these types of lenses were the wrist blasters that were recalled eight years ago, due to uncontrollable explosions. Then the magnet, while it's a standard make, it's got all these attachments that I can't make heads or tails of yet."

"Hold on." Tucker said, trying to keep up with his daughter. "Yet?"

"I need some more time." Tawney said bashfully, "I haven't had much time to look at it. Besides, I was kind of distracted by the ectoplasm and the compiler when I first saw it."

"What's wrong with the ectoplasm?" Maddie asked, agreeing that the color did look a tad bit off.

"First of all, it's a synthetic compound that functions like ectoplasm with the added addition of being bonded to gun powder."

"What?" Valerie said, "That's dangerous, combining anything with ectoplasm in dangerous! One wrong move and you could decimate an entire city block!"

"It can?" Tawney asked. "Cool," She paused, realizing what she had just said, "I'm mean not cool. Definitely not cool, anything but cool." Val raised an eyebrow at her daughter's theatrics. "Anyway, why'd you not tell me?!" Tawney exclaimed.

"Well…" Sarah drifted off, not really knowing what to say. "I didn't think you'd wanna know."

"Why not?!"

"Tawney," Valerie spoke up, not wanting any friendships to be torn due to her ineptitude, "I'm the Red Huntress remember? Phantom supporters hate Red and Red supporters hate Phantom. That has always been the rule of thumb, whether or not I approve of it. You've always gone on about being my successor, I'm sorry about that."

"Well, I'm still going to be your successor." Tawney huffed. "I'm just going to have the best ghost sidekick."

"Hey!" Sarah shouted, "I've been doing this longer than you _and_ I'm older. If anyone's going to be the sidekick, it's gonna be you!"

"No way." Tawney said, "It can be Colt!"

"There's no way you're going to let the brains of the operation pander to your hero complex." He countered, a teasing smile on his face, "I'm no sidekick. If you really need a sidekick, get Da-"

Dan gave them no chance to pull him into the argument, "I'll stick with damage control, thank you."

By the end of it, Val denied Tawney the apprenticeship.

For now, that is.


	6. Compromise

"Please!" The young girl pled, she was spread out defensively, as though trying to be a wall between the hunters and the ghost. Her ponytail had fallen out and her hair was waving in the wind as much as it could considering its matted state. Her blue eyes were rimmed with tears and her face was scrunched up in desperation. It was clear that the girl was scared, tremors were racking her body. She grit her teeth together to keep herself from rambling or stuttering.

Behind the girl was a pile of rubble, nothing giving away what it had once been before the fight had occurred. Within the pile was a ghost that looked eerily familiar to everyone, though none could quite place where from. It, or he, depending on your perspective, was curled up on the ground, struggling to speak, much less stand up. Instead, various shudders had been sweeping their way through his body on repeat.

In front of the girl were three hunters. One was her friend. Someone she trusted. The red huntress was in uniform before her. One of the guns that her suit had provided was pointed at the boy Dani was protecting.

The other two were people she had never truly met. A husband and wife. And while Dani did have a basic understanding of them, it had come from the man who wanted to tear their family apart. She wanted to admire them as her surrogate cousin/brother did but there was very little reason for her to. Jack Fenton, the husband, was hoisting some weapon with the appearance of a rocket launcher while his wife, Maddie, looked ready to charge in with her glowing staff.

All three of them were armed to their teeth with weapons and the only one keeping them from acting on their anger or determination, or whatever it was that drove them to hunt the Ghost Boy down, was the little girl who looked just as familiar as the ghost did. Minus the ghostliness, of course.

"Danielle, move away." Red said, her voice stressing each word, slight panic underlying her tone. "He's dangerous."

"NO!" The girl snapped at her. "He's not!" She shouted.

"Please." Red gritted out, not liking what she was about to do, but feeling the need to obliterate Phantom regardless of what Dani wanted. This was what was best for her.

"No!" Danielle shouted again.

"Dear, that manifestation is going to hurt you. Please move." Maddie said, picking up on the other female's hesitation to shoot.

"He saved me!" The girl tried to emphasize.

"That's just the kind of manipulative"-

"No, it's not!" Dani said, interrupting Jack, "I was hurting him, and he _saved_ me!"

"Dani," Red said, her heart beginning to bleed for the girl all over again. "He's the reason you're like this."

The girl faltered, the tears finally falling down her cheeks. She had nothing to say to that, considering that it was far truer than even Red knew. Maddie, sensing the girl's change, approached the girl slowly as if she were approaching a wounded animal. "It'll be okay, we can help you, but we need to deal with Phantom first."

"No." Dani said, a newfound firmness filling her voice as she angled her hand towards the woman.

Maddie sensing danger, though not from where stopped instantly. The hairs on her neck stood up straight, a pool of dread set in her stomach. This was a defining moment- something that'd change everything, but she didn't know what.

Jack felt no such impulse and instead gave a shout to Red, "It won't hurt her if you shoot her! We need to get to Phantom!"

"I can't."

"Don't worry it doesn't hurt humans."

"I _can't_!" Red shouted back. "Dani! Please, we need you to move."

"I won't! You helped Danny save me, you know he's good!"

"What is she talking about?" Maddie asked, realizing that Red had all but given up in her endeavor after 'Dani' had said those words.

"Nothing." Red grit out, Dani looked heartbroken.

"Val?"

"Listen, Dani, I want answers and you want Phantom safe right?" Dani gave her a wordless nod, drying her tears in the process. She was no longer crying though her breath was still uneven.

"Red, what are you doing?" Maddie asked, disbelief and frustration filling her voice.

"This is the best shot we've ever had at tearing the Ghost Boy apart molecule by molecule." Jack piped in.

"Would you answer my questions, Dani? Answer them honestly?"

Dani bit her lip, looking back at Danny who was still shaking in pain, though his eyes had some kind of determination in them, though she couldn't quite tell what it was he was wanting her to say, she made her own decision as she always had. "Yes," she said. Danny made some gurgling sound in his throat. "Yes, anything. Please!"

Red looked at her for a period of time, judging her honesty. Phantom had done pretty much the same thing when they'd saved Dani. She could trust her. She holstered the gun and began walking towards Dani, with far less caution than Maddie had earlier.

The couple looked confused. Red was less likely to help Phantom than even them, that much had been obvious since she'd first become a recognizable huntress. They glanced at each other, Maddie at a loss, but knew that they wouldn't let her hurt or capture Phantom till his use as a bargaining chip had expired, though the little one probably wouldn't let that happen either way. As such, Jack took the lead on this one. "We wanna be there!" He exclaimed in the boisterous way he always did.

"What?" Both girls asked simultaneously.

"If you're going to be questioning her, we want to be there." He affirmed

Red looked at Dani as though asking for permission, to which she hesitantly nodded. "Okay." Red said. "You can come."

Jack and Maddie both put away their weapons (though no one really knew where) and Jack asked, "So where to now?"

"I need to get Danny somewhere safe." Dani said, turning her back to the hunters and picked up the spazzing Phantom. "I can meet you guys in the cemetery."

"Really?" Red asked, though not out of suspicion which the Fentons assumed, but about the location. Ghost hunters and a part-ghost girl in a cemetery. There was something about the situation that seemed too ironic for it to not be the butt of a joke.

"Where else?" The cheeky grin on Dani's face left Red grimacing at the slight (it was only slight) amusement she gotten from the scenario.

"Okay." Red said, "You want help?"

"Nah I got this." Dani readjusted Phantom, trying to keep him comfortable, as her face becoming serious all over again. "Danny…" She murmured in worry. "Where do we need to go?"

He tried to respond, though it quickly turned into a hiss at the sheer pain filling his being. "Okay." Dani had a feeling as to who he was directing her towards and prayed that she didn't misunderstand him. She lifted up the boy, his position was awkward to hold and it was growing more difficult with his spastic movement but her half-ghost strength made it easier for Dani than what it could've been and Danny had always been light. Even without going ghost. "Please, give me an hour."

"Okay."

They shared a nod and Dani departed.


	7. Solar

**Solar**

No one would've expected it. Tuck didn't expect it. Danny didn't expect it. No one expected it. Everyone had some form of expectations for her, whether that be her vocal and political inclinations towards animals, plants, people, anything really. Essentially, everyone was expecting her to finally get with Danny Fenton and be against any figure of authority. They expected her to defy everything, against all odds. She wasn't the kind to let life happen to her.

It was a deep wound when they realized that she couldn't defy everything. The only thing she really defied were everyone's expectations.

She died.

She couldn't defy death as it gripped her after the accident.

After saving the first two children in the car, she ran back and tried to save the mother and the infant. She couldn't get them out and she wouldn't leave them. Then something sparked and the car went up in flames. Danny didn't know about it till long after the explosion. He mourned for months, struggling to find the strength within him to carry on in any other degree than Phantom: an occupation no one knew about.

It was four years later when Solar Flare came to Amity Park. She was far paler than she had any right to be, just a shade of orange above white. Her hair, much like Ember's, danced in the air, feasting off the oxygen, yellow flames eating all they could. The ghost seemed to have limited control over it. If calm, she would actually be in control, but as she would become impassioned, her locks seized and grew, incinerating all that came into contact with it.

Around her neck was a blood red choker, matching the bangles on her wrists. Her crop top was orange as was her skirt. She had no power to create the appearance of legs and was bound to the air with a ghostly tail, akin to the tail of the genie ghost. As she grew weary and weak, her shining, glowing skin would gain spots, as though she was beginning to burn out.

During her first appearance, Danny Phantom came onto the scene instantly, quick and ready to throw down if it was deemed necessary. Then he froze. It had been the first time anyone had seen the boy stop. It had been quite public and one of the rare occasions that the ghost fight could be filmed live. And Phantom seemed to slowly float down to the ground, his tail manifesting itself into legs, Solar (as she had previously introduced herself) floated down in tandem, though she was unable to touch the ground.

The speakers had just barely caught the utterance of "Sam?" escape from their superhero's lips. "Sam, is that you?"

"Danny?" The ghost had purple eyes, without any pupils. "Danny, where am I? What's going on?" Her voice grew in fear and her hair began to grow larger. "What's happening?"

Phantom took notice of it and quickly rushed towards her, as though he would give her a hug. As he put his arms around her, she screamed. She screeched in agony and Phantom immediately retracted the hug with a hiss. "Sam!" He cried as he took notice the dark spots peppering her waist.

The ghost curled up on herself, nursing her speckled skin. "Danny, it hurts." She cried as dark lines seemed to come from her cheeks.

The ghost looked at his hands and white rings spread across each of his hands, though nowhere else. It was a skill that no one in Amity Park had seen before, excluding Jazz Fenton and Tucker Foley who had only witnessed it on the full scale.

The ghost boy approached her once more and rested his hand on her cheek, he pulled away for a moment but seemed to grind his teeth and hold the ghost's face tenderly. "I'm here Sam, I'll always be here and if you ever need me, ask. I'm sorry, Sam. I am so sorry." He said, tears falling down his face and for the first time ever, the town saw the boy display his weakness. Not intentionally, but it proved that ghosts had feelings, had more than what the so-called 'experts' had said repeatedly.

He reached out his hand as he returned to using a ghostly tail. "Let's get you out of here."

It was both Solar Flare and Sam Manson that accepted his outstretched hand. "You're hand's cold." She said as people could see her skin grow darker around Phantom's seemingly human hand.

"I know, I'm sorry." He said, as the tears that were once flowing down his cheeks became small gems of ice decorating his face.

They both took off to the skies, and left to a hill, just far enough away from the town hall to make their scene too far to be seen clearly, though Solar's burning glow could be spotted. There was a bright flash of white and the townspeople could no longer see Phantom's ever-present glow.

It was that moment that Danny had returned to being human before Sam. "I'm sorry." He reiterated for his own benefit. "I should've been there to help you. I could've saved them- I could've saved you."

"So I am a ghost." Sam sighed. Danny nodded his head solemnly. Sam noticed his feeling of guilt and gave him a light, playful punch, once again darkening her hand. "So, how's life?" She asked, trying to get a rise out of the boy. She would _never_ say that _ever _again.

Danny gave her a wry smile, "Different."

They sat together in silence for a good period of time, Danny, pulling himself closer to his knees and Sam awkwardly hovering as the summer hear seemed to lighten the darkened spots of her skin. "I know I never told you, but I love you, Danny." Sam finally said.

"I love you too." He said, "But we can't be together, not anymore."

"Why not?!" Sam exclaimed as her hair began to burn brighter. "It's not your fault I'm dead and we love each other! We should be together! I want to be with you, Danny."

"Sam." His voice was firm and purposeful. "How old are you?"

"Fifteen."

"It's been four years, Sam. I'm nineteen."

"That's not too great of a difference."

"Sam, I'm going to keep aging, you're only going to age when you go through a power surge or have an alteration in your core beliefs."

"But-"

"Sam, what's your ghost name?"

"I'm Solar Flare, I already told you." She was irritated and it was painfully obvious to Danny that she wasn't understanding what he was trying to say.

"How do you know that?"

"I don't know, I just… do?"

"Those spots on your skin?" He said, "What are they?"

"Sunspots." She said instantaneously, "How do I know that?" She asked, fear now becoming a more prevalent feature of her voice.

"Sam, I have an ice core, you know this. What's yours?"

"You don't just ask a girl what her core is!" Sam was blushing at the very personal question that was far more personal than she thought she knew. It was embarrassing and her cheeks were glowing a bright white.

"Sam, you can't handle the cold, I'm hurting you the moment I touch you, even as a human."

"Am I hurting you?"

"It doesn't matter."

"It does."

"I'm used to it, don't worry." Sam would definitely worry, but she knew that line of questioning would get her nowhere. It never did in life either.

"I love you."

"I know," Danny said. "I love you too. I've loved with all my heart but we need to move on."

"I'll still be here though."

"I know." Danny pulled out the thermos.

"We can talk whenever you want."

"I know."

"I'll always be here for you."

"I know."

"You don't have to put me in the thermos, Danny."

"If I don't, you'll freeze at night." The thermos was aimed at Sam.

"You'll come see me, right?" Sam asked, her heart er… core heavy in her chest.

"Yes."

"I loved you, Danny." She said, giving him a peck on the cheek and returning to the line of fire.

"Me too." He pressed the button, and Sam disappeared in the flash of light. The only reminder that she had been there was the painful burns covering Danny's body. The blisters on his arms and torso, the red on the palms of his hands and the slight reddening of the cheek where Sam's kiss rested. "I loved you."

The tears never stopped falling that night.


	8. Sisters

**Sisters**

Dan Phantom, that was the name he had taken on when he merged with Plasmius, he wasn't about to let Vlad's counterpart take over, he wasn't going to become Vlad. He didn't need anyone to make him happy. He could be happy on his own. He didn't need anyone. That was at the point where he was sure on. Vlad was weak to need someone, that was the reason it was so easy to beat him, he had a very easily spotted weakness.

With all of his family, he had nothing that could be used against him in such a way. It was when he met his younger self that he remembered that he had so many weaknesses. Dan thought it'd be so easy to use them against his younger self. He didn't expect the weaknesses to be used as strengths. Actually, he didn't expect a lot of things.

He didn't expect that Danny would win.

He hadn't won when he was younger. Clockwork hadn't been willing to give him a second chance. Instead, he told Dan that he had to deal with the consequences that arose from his actions. The catch was, it hadn't been his fault, it had been Clockwork's. He hadn't gotten the test answers till after Clockwork decided to meddle.

What had Danny done to convince Clockwork for a second chance? It hadn't been fair. Why did Danny get the happy ending?

He didn't expect the Fentons to so quickly accept that Danny was a halfa.

Dan was a monster, he knew that, he reveled in it. He had proved his parents right after they had died- he wanted them to turn over in their grave for having no faith in him as their son. They didn't consider him at all. They always thought he was doing something wrong. They said he was getting to too many fights since he kept coming home with bruises. They said he hated their family since he was too busy to spend any time with them. Ha! They were always so wrapped up with ghost hunting, they never did anything with him in the first place. Then, when he was Phantom, they wanted him dead. Wasn't that a lovely thought?

Above all else, he hadn't expected Jasmine to know.

She had known.

She knew Danny was a ghost. That meant she must've known when he was that age too.

She knew. She knew and she trusted him. Trusted him to know what was right, to do the right thing. Trusted him more than anyone else ever had. He wanted to know how, why and everything else. How had she known? When did she find out? Why did she not tell the Fentons? How could she trust him when he was a ghost? Why would she care so much? How did she trust him enough to make his own decisions?

That was the last thing he would've expected from her.

She was never good at letting other people take the reins, she always had to be in control of everything. She was the one who helped the family be together at the most important times. She was the one who'd drag him away saying that whatever he'd chosen for himself wasn't good for his mental health. She was the one who had so vehemently denied the existence of ghosts until she saw them in person.

She was the last person who'd let him take his future into his own hands. When he was eight Jazz had mapped out his entire future for him! High school, college, and career, the whole shebang. So why'd she let him be Phantom without interfering was beyond him.

It had been six years when Clockwork _let_ him out of the thermos. Dan hadn't expected that either. Clockwork had put him on a short, make that a very short, leash of course, but he was free. Free-ish. Dan had been prepared to beat Clockwork to a pulp, but he had apologized. Dan hadn't expected that.

Clockwork wound up making _him_ his apprentice. Dan hadn't expected that either. He'd thought it had been just a bad cover story for being trapped in Clockwork's tower, but Clockwork was actually teaching him the way to manipulate time. Nothing too insane, but Clockwork was laying the foundations of a new master of time.

It had been two-ish (time ran funny in the tower) years when he was allowed to go back to the realm of the living, in disguise of course. He still had the ability to shift into the form of a fourteen-year-old Danny Fenton, he wouldn't be able to get pass any ghost shield, but that was to be expected. After all, he had ripped away what little human was left in them.

It was on his very first trip that he looked for Jasmine. He started in Amity Park and followed the bread crumbs that lead him to an apartment in New York that doubled as a private office for therapy it wasn't what Dan had expected either. He expected Jasmine to be in some posh office, held in the highest of esteem. It didn't take much to knock on the door nor to wait for his sister to answer, but to see her? That took a bit more confidence than he thought it would.

Jasmine's reaction was quite humorous. Her eyes widened and she hurriedly ushered him inside. "Danny! What happened?!"

Ah, that made more sense. She thought he was the younger version. "I'm not Danny." He said with very little emotion.

"You're a ghost?" She was still leading him to the living room that doubled as the office. It had a couch, a love seat, and a table, though the first thing Dan noticed was the lack of a T.V. "Danny told me that Amorpho could shapeshift, is that you?"

"Not quite Jasmine." Dan said, "We've met before." He saw her stiffen in a way that didn't mesh with his view of her. She was obviously trying to act normal, no one in the Fenton family was ever good at misleading others. "I just want to talk." He said when he watched her reaching for something- probably a weapon that her parents had made. He held his arms up in a half serious half mock surrender position. She still grabbed the object, she couldn't hide her action from Dan, though he refrained from mentioning it.

"What do you want?" She said, her voice tight and thinly laced with something Dan couldn't quite place, though it was easily recognizable.

"Would you like to sit?" Dan asked as he himself took a seat in the love seat, making himself comfortable whilst Jasmine sat in the center of the couch with perfect posture, stiff as a board. "When did you find out about me?"

"What?" Jasmine asked, clearly not understanding where the line of questioning was going.

"When did you find out I was a halfa?" he reiterated, unable to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Oh." There was a glint in her eye as she made it very clear that she had no subtlety when sizing people up. "I found out about Danny after the whole fiasco with the ghost counselor." Dan noticed the distinction between himself and her brother.

"How?" He couldn't keep himself from asking.

"Neither of you are good at transforming where no one can see you."

Dan had nothing to say to that, it wasn't wrong, he never really cared. No one ever really saw him, to pay attention so long as he was Danny Fenton. Then, when he took out the human part of him, he didn't need to transform anymore. Jasmine was still studying him when he asked another question. "Why didn't you tell me you knew? Or tell the Fentons?"

Jazz blinked, clearly not relating Dan to her brother as he related her to his sister in his time. "You mean why didn't I tell Danny?"

"Yeah." Dan wouldn't be able to get anything better out of her.

"Because it wasn't my secret to tell." She began, "and I wanted him to tell me when he was ready."

"Why?" He pressed, leaning towards her ever so slightly.

"It was his secret."

"That wouldn't have stopped you. You would've forced yourself into my- er… his life, lectured him about his mental health, convince him to quit, something."

Jasmine was giving him this look, it was unnerving that he couldn't figure out what it was supposed to say. "I trusted him to-"

"Why?"

Her eyebrows shot up, "What do you mean why? He's my brother."

"But you're always judging him, telling him what he's doing wrong and telling him what to do."

"That was a long time ago." Jasmine was relaxing a bit, sinking into her seat a bit more. "We, my brother and I, grew up believing our parents were nutjobs. Danny was bullied for it an-"

"I know all that Jasmine." Dan was filled with irritation by that point and didn't bother to keep his voice in line with his appearance, instead, reverting to the deep bass it usually was. "I lived through all of that too. What I don't know is why you let me continue on with a fool's errand."

Jasmine was clearly caught off guard, "It wasn't a fool's errand, it was my brother's." Her look of confusion was wiped away and replaced with pride. "He has always loved helping others and he's always been a good kid. I just wanted to make sure that he'd be safe."

"And how is fighting ghosts a safe endeavor?!" He shouted. "He was never invincible, he always got hurt and I was never able to go anything for anyone."

"I suppose it wasn't safe." Jasmine began, pointedly ignoring the 'no duh' look she was getting from the ghost in front of her. "But, he was safe within himself. I don't know what would've happened if I got him to stop fighting ghosts, but Danny was the happiest he'd been in a while. I didn't want to take that away."

"So, you just let him do whatever he wanted?"

"No, I supported him because even if I hated what he was doing, if I hated the fact that I would lose my brother, if I disagreed with his decisions or logic, Danny is my brother." She was frowning at this point. "No matter how much he shuts me out or leaves me in the dark he is my brother and I don't think I'll ever stand against him. I may stand against his actions and what not, but I love him. He's my family."

Dan couldn't bear it anymore, "I see." He stood up in a militaristic manner. "He's lucky to have you as a sister. Don't you dare to die on him." He left the apartment after that, looking at the shut door just a little bit longer than any normal person would. "I've already lost mine." He muttered to himself as he left with his hands stuffed into his pockets. "And I'll never get her back."


	9. World Building

*There was no power that could compare to what Danny was feeling right now. There was no source of love, hate, fear, anger, whatever have you, that could compare to his cheer frustration right now. He was supposed to be at Space Camp right now, not stuck in the ghost zone. In short, today had not been his day.

What he wanted, more than anything else, was to see the stars. But no. The Ghost Zone may be the flipside of the living realm, but stars didn't die, not in a true sense. They would always take a new form, be it a new solar system or a white dwarf.

Danny had to push his wants to the back of his mind all over again, focusing on getting out of the Ghost Zones was his top priority right now. He didn't want to know what his parents would do if Camp Astro called about his disappearance. Knowing them, they'd pin it all on Phantom again. He dreaded the day he would be forced to tell them.

Right now, Danny had no idea where he was. It looked vaguely familiar, but everything in the Zone looked the same after being in there long enough. The swirling everything only made it all the more difficult to navigate. He had floated by some of the doorways, but they weren't exactly the best landmarks. In actuality they only proved that he was in an area he'd never been to before. Nonetheless, he continued pressing forwards, if he couldn't find his way out surely someone would pop out and try to attack him. They would have to know how to get out, all he'd have to do was beat it out of them. Only if they didn't do so willingly, that is.

Time passed strangely for the young halfa as it would for anyone in the Zone. At times it'd feel like he had been there for hours while later it felt as though he'd been there for mere minutes. He flew past doors and random rocks that were just the beginnings of island lairs. There were going to be a lot of powerful ghosts in the next year or two.

Eventually, after who knows how long, he ran into a ghost. The good news was that it was a ghost Danny knew. The bad news was; it was Nocturne. His massive form stood out against the typical pattern of Zone and for not being more fluid than most of the sentient ghosts Danny fought, Nocturne still managed to retain the sharp edges that he had when they'd first thought.

Danny may need to get out of the Zone as soon as possible, but there was no way he would be able to take on Nocturne right now. No reason to poke a sleeping Dragon. He tried to discreetly leave the ghost only to be caught off guard by his words.

"You don't think you're the only one who can sense other ghosts do you?" Danny had frozen, unsure of what to do in response to the night ghost. "Well," Nocturn began, turning to look at the boy, "that answers that question. What are you doing all the way out here boy?"

It didn't seem as though Nocturne was going to attack, maybe he could just leave peacefully. "Just got a little lost, I'll be out of your hair real soon. Don't worry 'bout it." Nocturne's face seemed to contort itself into a questioning look and Danny decided it was the best time to leave. "I'll just go."

"That's not the right way." Danny turned to go in another direction, completely random. "That's not right either." Danny groaned and turned to where he had come from. "Still wrong." Nocturne was most definitely smug. Danny could hear it in his voice and it was starting to get real irritating, he couldn't keep himself from all but growling at his situation. "Do you desire help?"

Danny turned to Nocturne flabbergasted. Nocturne was not on his list of allies. Didn't he hate Danny for taking him down? It didn't make sense. Nocturne didn't bother trying to hide his amusement at the boy's dilemma. "What's the catch?" Danny was not about to fall into some trick. It was one of the lessons he actually absorbed from Vlad, not that Vlad liked that very much.

"No catch."

Danny wasn't sure but he really did need to get to the living realm. "Okay, yes. I do need help. But no funny business!" The last bit was more of an afterthought that Nocturne found quite humorous.

"Of course," He began soaring upwards, "follow me." He heard the young child mutter under his breath about three dimensions or something of the like. As he led the child through the Zone he gave acknowledgment to those that they were passing by. He felt the eyes of the boy burning into his back. Offhandedly, he wondered how the boy hadn't unlocked the ability to use his eyes as a weapon, clearly, they could exude ectoplasm at his will. "Do you wish for something?" He didn't like the sense of being watched under such a microscope.

"Your skin," Danny began, trying his best to remain tactful and within Nocturne's good graces. "It's like the night sky."

"Yes, I suppose it would seem that way to you."

"But it's wrong." Nocturne was impressed that the boy could detect that, most people would've assumed it just a bunch of stars, but it seemed as though the boy wasn't finished. "I don't recognize any of those constellations. There are pieces of constellations that I can make out, but they're missing some of their stars or they have extra stars that aren't supposed to be there. It doesn't match up to anything in the real world." The boy caught his mistake, "The living realm I mean."

"You'd be right about that," Nocturne stated, "These are the stars whose time has come to pass. Some of these you still see in the sky, but the light has yet to travel so that the people of your planet can see."

That seemed to spark some intrigue in the boy seeing as he begun to talk to Nocturne as an old friend rather than a former opponent, "My planet?" His eyes were wide with awe. "Does that mean that there really are aliens? Or is it just a confirmation of the multiverse theory. Wait." The boy skidded to a halt. "Are you an _alien ghost_?" The wonder filling his tiny body was very amusing to Nocturne, perhaps he'd have to amend his thoughts of the child.

"I suppose you could see it like that," Nocturne hummed, "Your earth does know of the life span of a star correct?" The boy nodded. "And they do know that the sun is a kind of star correct?"

"Of course!" The boy clearly felt insulted by that question.

"When a star dies it may explode, correct?" The boy gave an affirmative, "Your universe was created from the remnants of the solar system which I once lived." The wide eyes of the boy left Nocturne wondering how he was taking it. "I was one of the last people on the planet, we were forced to watch as we could do nothing but watch helplessly as the sun consumed our planet."

"What was your planet called?" The boy had a reverence as he gently prodded for answers, something Nocturne did not believe the boy had the capacity for.

"Much like your race, we called it Earth."

"Are we just repeating history?" The boy seemed heart-broken for some reason. "Forced to continue down one path without any say?"

"Don't worry about that." Nocturne wasn't prepared to comfort the child so he didn't. He just laid out the facts. "Your Earth seems to be moving forward on its own, there are a great many differences."

"Like what?"

"We never had a world war, much less two of them."

"Of course." The child was not pleased with that information, Nocturne wondered why.

"Your Earth seems to be more accepting of differences as well." Nocturne gave the boy a nudge, "And there most definitely was never a halfa."

"How would you know?"

"When you've seen as much as I have, you can riddle things out for yourself."

"I guess." The boy mumbled and they continued onwards in silence. It was a comfortable silence, benign and gentle. Something he did not realize the child could respect instead of disrupting. They were nearly at the exit of the zone when the boy had a thought come to him. "How old are you Nocturne?"

"Very." The boy pushed no more and left the Zone safely with a compassionate good-bye. It had been a long time since someone bothered to show him _compassion_ of all things. He hadn't even realized he'd missed it.

**A/N:** I always struggle with world building prompts, especially when there's already a set of rules established within the universe. Let me know if I fulfilled the prompt to your satisfaction.


	10. Favorite AU

**Favorite AU**

Jock!DannyXSam - I found out about this somewhere that I couldn't find again. I'm not usually a fan of pairings and this really isn't a pairing so much as it's the start of a friendship.

It was the whole going back to school thing that every kid hated. Danny looked at his sister excitedly bouncing around, teacher to teacher, dragging their parents to meet all her teachers. Maybe she was an exception, in general, all of Danny's friends hated this. They were all lucky enough to convince their parents not to come. Granted, they all may be avoiding _his_ parents.

One would think that being a part of the football team would mean he was immune to any teasing or taunting- usually, it worked- but not always. His parents were so obnoxious at times. He had a position and purpose at school, he was able to gain the respect from most of the student body rather quickly but his parents, they were the worst. They went on and on about ghosts and hunting them.

He tried to get them to stop considering people had only just started believing in ghosts and frankly, it was annoying. They'd embarrass people and in turn, they were hated by most of the community. Being a Fenton had branded him as 'the weird kid' since elementary school and he'd only started to escape that as he was getting older and growing more athletic. He had to thank his father's genes for that blessing.

Recently he'd gotten into wicked shape and managed to step up his game in every sport he'd get into. He recently was able to overtake Dash in strength and Kwan in speed. Granted, his other activities may have given him an edge, hunting ghost seemed to do that. He was trying not to use any of his ghost powers in the games but there were a few times- especially in the beginning -that he couldn't control the natural instincts that were making him use his powers. He was trying to play fair.

His parents were busy talking, rather exuberantly, with one of Jazz's AP teachers with stars in their eyes. They were distracted, now was the time to make his escape. He quickly hurried past his peers and their parents, receiving a few pitying looks and a few hollers. Very few people wanted to deal with a Fenton though so most just ignored him, letting him flee from the penalty of death via embarrassment.

He was lucky to find the gym of all places empty. It seemed that after the whole speech the parents didn't bother to return to the sacred hall of all sportsmen. Of course, within moments, the door behind him opened and someone ran into him. He turned around on reflex to see a girl, with quite a bit of muscle on her bones, standing up. She was dressed in black, purple and green; her hair was short, and she was goth. Very goth. He had to hand it to her, she wasn't looking pale or unhealthy like most goths at the school. Really, she just seemed dark.

She rose a very skeptical eyebrow. "So, you gonna help me up Fenton, or are you just gonna stand there and gawk?"

"Oh yeah!" Startled into action, he held out his hand for her to grab. "Sorry, are you okay?"

"As long as my parents don't find me, yeah. I'll be fine."

He grimaced, "Oof. They're that bad?"

"No. They're worse."

The girl was acting so serious about the matter that Danny couldn't help but laugh. "What were they doing?"

"Educating Ms. Tetslaff of the reasons to wear a skirt."

Danny cringed at the thought- he just couldn't imagine it under any circumstances, "Need a plus one to their funeral?" The girl rose her eyebrow at his antics. "I'm Danny." He held out his hand.

"Sam."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sam."

She scoffed, "Sure." They both stood there awkwardly. "So you hiding a girl behind the bleachers?"

Danny furrowed his eyebrows, "Huh? Why would that be a thing?" The girl raised an eyebrow and as she took in Danny's bewildered look she fell into a laughing. It sparked a petulant part of him. "What?!"

She continued laughing, "You, Daniel Fenton, don't know what it means when there are people behind the bleachers?" Danny fumbled as he was trying to figure out what she was saying, "Everyone says that you're the most experienced guy at are school and you're really-" Sam fell into laughter once again, you're just clueless aren't you?"

"I am not clueless!" He'd gotten that enough from Dash and Valerie, he didn't need it from this girl too. His indignation seemed to only encourage the girl though which made his face burn in some combination of anger and embarrassment.

"Just innocent then." She collected herself just barely enough to recognize that Danny was staring at her. "What?"

"You're smiling…"

"Yeah. So?"

"I've never seen a goth smile before, isn't that against your beliefs or something?"

Her smile quickly faded as she crossed her arms, "That's just a stupid stereotype that society feeds people for idiots to buy into." Danny's blank look only encouraged her to continue, "Just leave, I don't want to spend my time fraternizing with some bullying jock."

Danny blinked and gathered his thoughts. "Isn't that a stereotype?" Sam sputtered and it was now Danny's turn to laugh at her.

"Sure, now you laugh at the girl. Go ahead, laugh at all the girls while you're at it." Sam was very clearly irritated her peeved reaction giving away her flusterization.

Danny quickly sobered up at that, "Isn't that a bit of a double standard?" He asked a bit peeved himself.

"Huh?"

"You get to laugh at me when I do something "clueless" but the moment you get flustered you can't laugh at embarrassment anymore?"

"I wasn't the one laughing about a very serious social problem!"

"But you were just generating a self-fulfilling prophecy!" Danny officially didn't like this girl, she was doing what Clockwork and his parents had done. "You just fool yourself into believing that anything you don't like is happening because of someone else! You tell people that they hate you which is what makes them hate you. You can't tell people what they're thinking because you _don't_ know why they did whatever they do." His hands had been flying all over, but he now stuffed them into the pockets of his Varsity Jacket. "That's just as bad. It's probably worse!"

Sam just stood agape at that and watched as Danny climbed up the bleachers and decided to lie down at the top. He was still tired from last night; he'd only gotten three hours of sleep. He wasn't about to deal with the bratty goth.

Sam sat down at the base of the bleachers. She had planned on scheming her newest pitch to the principal about a change in the lunch menu. Last time she'd gotten turned down, she felt that her idea would encourage a new ethical way of viewing life, but she wasn't able to focus on it. Eventually, thirty or so minutes later she marched up to the bleachers and kicked the jock who shot straight up, ready for a fight.

When Danny realized who it was that woke him up, he groaned, "Come on, you can't even let me get some sleep?"

"Oh, shut up," Sam chided, "just telling you I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. Also, stop snoring."

"Oh." Danny was surprised, he didn't really take Sam as the apologizing type. "Okay, I guess I'm sorry about lecturing you, I didn't mean to go off on you."

"Sure."

"Can I go back to sleep now? I didn't get much sleep last night."

Sam just rolled her eyes. "This is why everyone thinks you're experienced. Later Fensnoozer."

"Later?" Danny was still confused. What on Earth was that girl talking about?


	11. Redesign

**Redesign**

Danny's eye twitched as Jazz bounced around the lab, while he was still a ghost. "Jazz, none of this is gonna stick. It'll all disappear when I change back." He had just gotten back from changing into the padded jumpsuit Jazz had given him.

It didn't look much different. In fact, it looked about the same as his jumpsuit did but with some padding. Frankly, he was just happy that it didn't rub his skin wrong anymore. It was nice that it didn't creep into crevices that were really uncomfortable, but in the end, it was all going to be pointless.

"But then it'll come back when you 'go ghost' again, right?"

"That's not how it works Jazz." The day she'd actually listened to him would be the day that Vlad married his mom. "I always reset when I switch forms." Jazz was fastening the belt Tucker had made and Sam had stylized.

"You don't reset your injuries, Danny." The belt clicked and safely fastened itself. "And your jumpsuit doesn't help you at all." Jazz pointed to one of the many buttons on the top rim of the belt. Press this button to tighten it and this one to loosen it."

Danny clicked the button. "But that's what intangibility is for though, right?" The belt soon became a perfect fit.

"And how often do you actually remember to use that?" Jazz pulled on the small black bit that seemed to be poking out the squarish shape on his belt.

"I dodge too." He watched as the black bit grew into a chord that clipped onto the collar of the suit.

"Danny." Jazz's irritation was growing more prominent. "You're more likely to take a missile than get out of the way ever since Mom and Dad started blaming you for all the damage to the city." She fiddled with the clip a bit more while Danny tried to ignore her words, even if they were right. "This is what we're going to be using to talk to you while you're flying too fast or too high to hear us." She pointed to another button. "Push this when you need help or need us on the comms." She turned around and grabbed three short sticks. It was essentially the same proportions as the thermos was, but all dimensions were cut in two. "Mini thermoses," Jazz said, "it doesn't carry soup any more and the max is significantly less, but something's better than nothing." Her smile was a bit too tight for it to be as genuine as she wished it could be.

"Which means that I still need to carry the regular thermos everywhere." Danny was fiddling with a mini thermos while Jazz put the other two in the belt on his left hip.

"Yep."

"Come on Jazz, you know that this outfit won't stay on, this is pointless."

She was messing around with his shoulders. "Just trust me on this Danny."

Danny instantly had an impish grin grow on his face, "Like last time?"

"Hey! It all worked out in the end."

Danny raised a brow, "Which was five hours after Boxy showed up."

Jazz took to mumbling, "It was four hours and forty-seven minutes."

"My point exactly."

"Turn around Danny." Danny complied and felt something pushed against his back.

"What's that?"

"It's a monitor for your vitals underneath the padding." She said, continuing to mess with it. "We're going to need to run some tests to figure out what your baseline's at so that we can make sure you're not falling apart on us." The unspoken yet hung in the air.

"Mom would think your insane," Danny joked, "look at me, a ghost with vitals." Jazz went still for a moment as Danny continues. "I think you've just saved me from becoming Schrodinger's teen." Jazz gave it a chuckle.

"Four out of ten Danny, you've had better."

Danny shrugged, "Better than most of yours."

"That's not very difficult."

"Trust me," Danny groused, "I know."

They fell into a comfortable silence as Jazz finished whatever it was that she was doing, her eyes paying attention to every detail as her fingers danced across a tablet, running the most basics of tests. Mainly, did it work?

Once Jazz was satisfied with the results she slowly grabbed the syringe from the table that she'd but the tablet on. "That's the blood you took from me, right?"

"Yes," Jazz said, uncertain if her efforts would prove successful, "We thought that if the suit had you powering it then it would stay with your ghost half, even after you transform."

"Okay."

"Here goes nothing." Jazz emptied the contents of the syringe into the back thing and soon enough it flowed through the whole suit, giving it neon green highlights among the white accents.

Danny watched through the mirror as the green appeared "Cool."

"Glad you like it." Jazz but the syringe back on the table, "The belt and the tools already have your blood in them so they should stay on." Danny's eyes went wide and Jazz made a flicking motion with her wrist, "Well, try it out already."

"Oh, okay," He quickly turned into a human and then threw his arms up into the air, "Going Ghost!" The white rings haloed around his body, slowly spreading out and revealed Danny Phantom, stunning in his new suit. After seeing it in the mirror, he hugged his sister, "Thank you, Jazz."

"No problem, little brother."

* * *

**A/N: **This is the shortest one I've written so far, not a very easy prompt for a written piece, at least for me.


	12. Crossover

**Crossover**

Danny was running, well- flying, he couldn't stay at home with his parents right now, not with the Guys in White there. He had taken off after they'd caught him. They brought him to his own parents' lab for them to dissect. At least he knew where his parents stood when it came to dissecting Phantom now.

He was grateful when they had tried to stop the GiW. They had taken Phantom's side rather than the people that Dad had looked up to for years. Their determination was what had kept him sane when the GiW began cutting. Mom and Dad chose Phantom. They weren't going to hurt Phantom anymore. They knew that he could feel. It had brought the comfort Danny needed at that time.

It would still be bringing a smile to his face if the GiW didn't have them locked up now. They and Jazz had orchestrated his escape, shoving a pack of ecto-based healing supplies into his hands, and Danny Fenton was still wanted. There was no way he could be there without revealing that he was Phantom. The wound on his chest was still healing, they had used ectoranium infused with iron in hopes of keeping him from healing. It was working, the wound was healing at the same rate that a human would've (if they'd been able to survive it in the first place).

The healing was wearing him out faster than it should've, he had to land soon. The good news was that he was coming up on a town. He fumbled his landing a bit, but it seemed like he was an abandoned building, no one would bother him. He watched as the glowing rings crossed his body as he reverted to his human form. His Phantom form was still busy, healing the wound, but the ectoranium was still taking its toll on him.

He laid there on the roof for a good half hour or so before he felt he had enough strength to phase through the roof and into the building. When he looked down at himself his typical white shirt looked like it had been tie-dyed, normally, blood didn't follow a Y pattern. At least his jumpsuit was able to keep his insides inside him after it had mended itself. There was no way he would be able to get around town with this shirt.

Danny sat down, leaning on the wall as a support. Everything hurt. It always hurt more when he was human, ectoplasm was like a built-in painkiller and without it, the slightest movements made him whimper. He tried to take off his shirt but the movement in his arms made it all the more painful. He tried again and it still hurt. The soaked shirt was beginning to cling to his skin. He tried again. It didn't work.

He could feel his heart beating in his chest, it hurt so much. He didn't even know where he was. Where was he? He felt something damp on his jeans. They were red now. His blood was getting everywhere. He hoped that his parents wouldn't make him clean it up. He tried to take off his shirt again. Why was he trying to do that again? He still couldn't do it. He didn't want to be in pain anymore. He couldn't move. He didn't want to move.

There was a loud sound coming from the left, almost like a bang of sorts. Danny had bounced at the sound, half lucid as he did so. It looked like a boy had entered the room. Oh, apparently there was a door there too. Huh, he didn't know it was open. He didn't even know it was there. The boy was red too, well his sweater was. Danny didn't know if the boy was bleeding too but the sweater was really red. Like a red flag. Danny knew he couldn't be caught. The boy rushed towards him. Danny needed to move. He needed to get away.

He tried to stand up, but the boy yanked on his shirt. The boy was saying something, Danny couldn't figure it out. The boy tore open the shirt. He had this horrified look on his face and Danny didn't know why. It was just a little blood.

In Billy Batson's mind, there was a lot of blood and there were three cuts on the teenager's body. He didn't know much about science or torture or what not, but those cuts were obviously done with a purpose. Whoever had hurt the teen did it on purpose. Billy thanked this teen's lucky stars for getting him to check on what he'd thought was a very high guy or someone with a major hangover. The teen wasn't what he was expecting, he didn't know if that was worse or not.

He had to get him laying down. "I'm going to lay you down, please don't freak out." His pleas went unheard as the teen tried to get away from him, gritting his teeth and only letting out long hisses and short whimpers escape. The teen began to slow down, not struggling as much, he seemed to be in less pain too, once he finally refrained from thrashing around. Billy pulled on his inherent magic and held his hands over the teen's body, his spells wouldn't do much, but they should help speed up the healing process, nonetheless.

He looked around, trying to find something to bandage the teen up but came up short, excluding the bag at his side. Figuring that the teen's life was worth for than the privacy of his bag, he tore apart the bag. Lo-and-behold, there was a first aid kit in it. Although most of it seemed to be glowing it didn't seem dangerous. What Billy didn't understand was why it was fully stocked when the teen clearly needed as much help as he could get.

Billy cleaned the area around the wound as best he could and wrapped it, ignoring the groans that left the teen. Currently, he was wishing that he wasn't as invincible as he was when he was Captain Marvel. He hardly knew the first thing about first aid, much less how to care for someone hurt this much. He definitely should've paid for attention to Batman's lectures. "I can't help you," he found himself muttering, "We need to get you to the hospital."

The teen grabbed his wrist, startling the living daylights out of Billy, "No." His voice was fuller than any normal persons would be. It was dazed, maybe, but not weak. Maybe it was the desperation that was filling his voice with strength. "No hospitals." Whatever it was that had kept him going ran out and the teen had passed out.

Billy was a hero. He knew there were hundreds of reasons that people believed that they couldn't go to a hospital, or anywhere for proper treatment. For all Billy knew, this teen had slipped through the system just like he did.

What he did know was that this guy was hurt by someone and he needed to find out who in Fawcett would do this kind of thing. No one should be tortured on his watch. He also knew that this guy felt like he couldn't get real help which probably meant whoever did this was pretty powerful. Not that he knew how. There were a lot of ways someone could be powerful. Above all else though, he needed to help the guy to the best of his abilities.

The guy was really light, Billy thought he'd have to Shazam it up to lift him but no. He was perfectly able to lift the teenager as his usual eleven-year-old self. It didn't make sense, but he figured the boy's life mattered more. He carried the teen downstairs and into his makeshift room. The room was abandoned long enough for its original purpose to have been lost to time. Billy didn't even know what the building had been used for before all the street people began claiming it, he being one of them.

Billy felt a bit guilty for not having many blankets for the boy, usually, he just slept with the one. Winter made it a little harder to sleep but it wasn't anything his magic couldn't help out with.

Billy had intended to stay up with the teen till he woke up but found himself drifting off an hour or so after night had come. Using magic in this form tended to do that. He was woken up by the grunts and groans of the teen who had thought it was a good idea to try and get out of bed without taking his injuries into consideration.

"Careful!" Billy jumped into action helping the resisting teen back into the bed, "You don't want to be hurt even more do you?"

"I'll be fine."

Billy scoffed at such a ludicrous claim. "You were bleeding out everywhere! There's no way you're okay." The teen had a confused look on his face, it was contorted until a sudden look of something (frazzlement?) overcame him and he looked down at his torso frowning.

"Did you bandage me up?" Billy felt embarrassed but nodded, "Where's the kit?"

"Huh?"

"The first aid kit, the one with all the stuff in it?"

"Oh!" Billy ran to one of the cabinets and pulled out the sack. "It's glowing, but I thought it was better than nothing."

The teen took the sack and opened it. Thank goodness whoever had packed this thing had the decency to put a bunch of bandages in it. He began to unwrap the bandages that were clung too tightly to his skin, but Billy began to panic. "Don't take off the bandages! It can't have been healed yet!"

"Sorry to break it to ya kid, but don't become a doctor." Billy's face must've changed somehow because the teen began to wave his arms at him, at least that was before it got too painful. "It's not terrible, better than any other kid could've done, I just have to patch myself up a lot."

"People cut you open a lot?"

The teen grimaced at the question, "No, it's not usually this… intentional."

"Oh." Billy fell silent as he watched the teen remove the bandages and saw all the little twitches and suppressed whines as he did so. As soon as the bandages came off, the teen hurriedly pressed some of the glowing cloth to the wounds.

The teen looked at the extra bandages and back down to the gauze he was still holding in place- with both hands. "Umm, can you hold these for me?" Billy nodded, eager to help. The soft, "Thanks." Was his repayment.

"No problem." Billy was putting on a brave face, but even he couldn't smile as he felt the teens strange breathing pattern. Billy was trying to watch what he was doing, trying to figure out what he'd done wrong so he wouldn't mess up again. "What's your name?" He asked, his eyes still glued the bandage as it was wound around the boy.

The teen looked down at him, almost accessing him. "Danny," he finally said, "just Danny." Billy nodded and kept watching, removing his hands when instructed to. "And what's your name?" the tee- Danny asked.

"Billy, Billy Batson."

The response was more confident than Danny had suspected it would be. The place they were in wasn't the best. If he had to guess they were in some abandoned building. There seemed to be some stuff in here though. Like the mattress, it was old but it wasn't decaying. It still had a good four, five years of use in it before the foam started deteriorating. And then there was Billy himself. He was far too comfortable for a kid in an abandoned building. "Billy, do you live here?"

"Well yeah," Billy shrugged as Danny had finished the wrappings, "There're a lot of kids on the streets right now." Danny stared at the boy, that wasn't normal. Kids weren't supposed to be on the streets, there were systems to keep that from happening. He knew enough people that would be willing to take in a bunch of kids. Granted, Vlad was on that list too- not the best father figure for anyone. "It's not all that bad," Billy said, "There are a lot of good people in Fawcett, they just can't take kids in."

"Why not?"

Danny's bewilderment told Billy that he wasn't from the streets. He clearly had spent his life in a good home. "How did you get hurt?"

"Don't change the topic."

"I think injuries are more important than the state of the city." Billy wasn't about to let Danny ignore his questions. He needed to know who he needed to stop.

"Don't worry about it." Danny wasn't about to let some kid deal with his problems. "Nothing you can do about it."

Billy knew that Danny was right, he couldn't do it as Billy Batson, maybe he'd have to ask as the Captain, but that'd have to wait. "You want some food?"

"No, I'm fine." The growling from Danny's stomach seemed to disagree, though Billy wouldn't have believed him in the first place.

"I have some canned stuff. There's soup somewhere in here…" Danny watched as the boy crawled onto the floor and halfway into a cabinet, throwing some cans onto the floor as he shuffled inside. "Aha!" Billy got out and held out a can of stew. "Here you go! Oh," Billy came to a sudden realization. "You're gonna need a spoon too, huh?" He bounced over to the cabinet beside the last one and crawled into it again. There was some jingling and the kid came out with a spoon in hand- surprisingly clean.

"Thank you." Danny was really hungry, the GiW hadn't had the thought to feed a ghost, which did make sense, so he hadn't had anything for three, four days ago? "What's today?"

"Thursday." So, it had been three days, "You can stay here as long as you need to. It's not much but it's got a bed."

"What about you?"

"I've got some friends I can bunk with for a few nights 'till they start asking questions." Namely the Justice League's Watchtower.

"I don't really have much choice, do I?" Danny had this cynical smile on his face, he wasn't planning on staying here, but he figured he'd humor the kid till he could go ghost and leave.

"Nope," Billy said, "You wouldn't let me take you to a hospital so now you're stuck here. If you leave, I will tell the police that you were here and make sure they get you to hospital." The sheer horror that crossed Danny's face took Billy by surprise. He wasn't expecting that kind of response. He just wanted to make sure that Danny would still be there when he came as the Captain, not make him feel threatened. Billy would protect this teen, no one should live their life with so much fear.

"I have to head out and help Mrs. Carvit with her yard and walk her dog." Billy raced out the door only to rush back in and go back to the cabinet with the soup cans and pulled out three disposable water bottles, all full. "Here's some water, I'll be back before dark!" Then he ran off again, leaving Danny with the first aid kit still sprawled out on his bed, a can of cold soup, and his thoughts.

True to his word, Billy came back before dark with a takeout box in his hand and plastic silverware, a bunch of silverware actually. He found Danny sitting up and fiddling with the bandages again. "How're you doing?"

Danny didn't bother looking at him before he answered, "I'm fine."

"Sure." Billy hopped onto the bed. "I managed to get some food from the diner. It was a good haul today so there's plenty for the both of us." He held out the silverware for Danny to grab. Danny was just staring at him, eyeing the silverware suspiciously. "It's clean I promise."

"Don't you need it more?"

That was different than what Billy had suspected, "Don't worry, Jasmine forced me to eat while I was there, besides, that's why we're sharing right?"

"I guess…" Danny took the offered silverware, he didn't want to take any food away from this kid. Not when it was Danny's fault for putting him in this position. On top of that, there was no reason for a kid to be the one helping him. Danny had to be five or six years older than the boy.

Billy opened the container and revealed fresh food that was still steaming. Of course it was, he'd gotten here as fast as possible, courtesy of Captain Marvel's powers. Judging by the look of surprise on Danny's face, Billy gathered that this wasn't what he'd been expecting. It hadn't been what he was expecting either. He usually just asked for the leftovers or messed up dishes. This time he had paid for the food, Danny needed some good food to heal properly. But he knew for a fact that this was more than what this dish usually came with. Jasmine must've picked up on something. That woman would be able to find out Batman's identity if she set her mind to it.

"This looks really good." Billy looked at Danny in surprise, he'd figured he usually ate well. He didn't think Danny looked too thin. "What? It does!"

"I thought this was a normal meal?"

"Exactly!" Danny was wearing a big grin on his face. "It's not green or moving and it's got all those colors. Best of all, it's not moving!"

"What on earth do you usually eat?"

"You don't want to know." Danny's voice seemed serious, but Billy couldn't help but laugh with that stupid grin Danny was wearing. "No one in my family can cook to save their life but they don't know it."

"Really?"

"Yep, last Thanksgiving the turkey came to life and started trying to braid my sister's hair before Mom and Dad started shooting it." Billy had absolutely nothing to say to that, rather he gaped, trying to wrap his head around that. "Jazz and I decided to order take out for the evening."

"Oh." With that Billy began to dig into the food while Danny very hesitantly picked out a few pieces. "You can take more." Billy had paused taking notice of their difference in pacing. "If we don't finish it, it'll go to waste." Danny nodded and began taking more of the food. "Well, I'm full." Billy said setting aside his silverware and pushing the container closer to Danny.

"You didn't eat any of the vegetables."

"So?"

"You're a growing boy, Billy. Eat some vegetables."

"I'm not the one healing up."

"Billy." Danny was using a threatening tone, but Billy didn't really believe that Danny would do anything. He seemed like a nice guy. Nicer than any of the teens he usually met on the street.

"Anyway, I gotta get to the other place and crash." Billy stretched, not use to sitting down for a meal unless he was at Rosie's Diner. "I'll get breakfast for you too, so don't worry. See you in the morning!" And Billy ran out again.

Danny stared after the boy and looked at the food in his lap. It's not like he could let it go to waste… He began shoveling the food down his throat. It tasted really good and it was about the only thing he could do. He had already stitched up his wound and redone the bandages, he still couldn't go ghost. He had tried to do that earlier and the wound seemed to be eating at itself. He really hated ectoranium. He had to wait for his human side to be completely healed otherwise he wouldn't be sure if the ectoranium had been purged from his body completely.

The GiW sucked.

It was around eight-ish when Danny got a visitor. It was Captain Marvel knocking on the window. Danny didn't know much about the hero but he did know that he was part of the Justice League. The Justice League was a government organization. So was the GiW.

Marvel was surprised to see the boy he'd been helping earlier, recoil back in fear as soon as he'd seen him. He grew worried as the boy ran away from the window and out of the room, wrapping his arm around his torso as he did so.

That wasn't the reaction that Captain Marvel was supposed to inspire. He was supposed to be like Superman, inspiring hope and faith in the goodness of humanity, not striking the fear into their hearts. He couldn't let the teen injure himself anymore so he decided to enter the building, hoping to do something for Danny. He hurried into the building, he had to be stealthy- he wouldn't want to scare Danny even more.

As he searched the building, he thought it over in his mind, why would Danny run from him? Maybe he was related to some villain? That'd make the whole 'shooting the living dead turkey' thing make some sense. Or, Danny could be a villain. He didn't seem like it though, Danny was pretty nice, and he'd have to be doing it under his parent's noses. Marvel just couldn't see Danny as a villain. Then again, Danny didn't want to go to the hospital. That must mean that he thought Marvel would be just like that.

Argh! It was all so complicated! Billy had gone through the entire building and still couldn't find him. Maybe he'd find a clue back in his room. He pushed open the door and looked at the bed. It looked like Danny had eaten all the food from the diner. That was good. He had to pick up all of the cans in the morning. They were everyw- Marvel paused. He didn't think he'd made that much of a mess. He ducked down and opened the cabinet. Lo-and-behold, there Danny was, curled up and sleeping.

Marvel cast a spell on the boy to keep him sleeping as he very carefully, tried to pull the teen out. He did manage to get him to the bed eventually, but it had taken a while. Danny had kept stirring, something that wasn't supposed to happen with the spell. After putting the teen to bed, ed decided to put all the cans away before leaving for the watchtower.

When Danny woke up, he'd been surprised he'd fallen asleep at all after seeing _the_ Captain Marvel out the window. At least he thought he had. He was still in bed, so it must've been a dream. That was weird, it had felt so real. Billy had just walked into the room, looking just as tired as Danny felt.

"Morning Danny." Billy was carrying a plastic bag. "I got breakfast and lunch for ya." Billy pulled out two muffins, both wrapped in plastic packaging, and a speckled banana. "It's not much but I was the best I could get."

"What about you?"

"I won't be here today. I was gonna try and get some stuff from the school, they usually let me into the classes and since I have work today, I'll get some more food for tonight."

"Wait," Danny said before the boy could rush out, "Work? You're like, nine!"

Billy sighed, of course this would happen. How could it not happen? "First of all, I'm eleven, and second of all, I can get a bunch of odd jobs around the community if I just ask, that's where I was yesterday." Billy shrugged. "People try to help out kids as much as they can, it's just hard to take us in. I got really lucky when I got an hour talk show on the radio."

"What?"

"It's pretty short and since they can't actually pay me because of taxes and all that I can get some food each day or I can get an article of clothing a week. I get to choose what the plan is every Sunday."

"Okay…" Danny still didn't think it was legal but, it seemed that they were doing the best they could.

"Trust me, I'll be back before dark." Danny nodded and watched as the young boy left. He took the banana and ate that first, assuming it'd be the first thing to go bad. He got out of the bed and opened the can-cabinet as he'd come to call it, putting the two muffins in it. He couldn't keep taking advantage of Billy and even if he needed to heal, he had already taken his bed.

Danny looked through all the cabinets and discovered that Billy had a bunch of papers in one. On the top were a bunch of newspaper clippings about superheroes (Danny wasn't surprised to find that there were none of Danny Phantom) though most of them were about Captain Marvel. That made sense, the papers said he was based in Fawcett, that's where Billy said they were, right?

Underneath those were some notebooks that weren't written in English, Danny couldn't tell what language it was. Maybe he could ask Billy. There was a total of four notebooks but there was only one that had something in it that he actually understood, it had been the third one he had picked up. The first thing in it was a picture, worn at the edges but better maintained than any of the newspapers had been. Within the picture was a family of four. A mom, dad, and two children, a boy, and a girl. He tentatively turned the page to reveal very sloppy written English. Before he had finished the first sentence, he closed it. That was not for him to read. It was too personal.

In the other cabinets was a pager (who used those things nowadays?) and a map with a bunch of Xs on it. Danny didn't bother with it, there was another with some clothes. Maybe two pairs of jeans, a sweater, and three shirts? Then there was the cabinet with the silverware. It was all clean but nothing matched. There was a cup and a plate but other than that most everything was silverware. There was a ton of silverware. More than what made sense.

Other than that, everything was empty. Danny had nothing better to do and found himself organizing the can-cabinet. Afterward, he had begun exploring the building but at a snail's pace. He'd started at the top and began working his way down. There was hardly anything on the top floor but on the next floor down there had been some people and Danny got very self-conscience as he remembered he wasn't wearing any shirt, showing off his torso for the world to see. Needless to say, he hurried back to the room Billy had claimed and stayed in all day. There was no way Billy had a shirt in his size

When Billy got back that night, he was confronted by a few of the other 'residents' who were concerned that Billy's place had been taken by some dangerous teenager. Billy laughed them off and said it was fine. He was a guest. Many of them didn't take kindly to Billy's decision, they said Billy needed to take care of himself before he took care of anyone else. He reassured them that it was fine. Though it did bring up an interesting question, how did Danny wind up bleeding on the very top floor without waking anyone else up that night?

When he entered his room/house he saw Danny staring out the window, the weird first aid kit clutched in his hands. "Hey, Danny." Danny didn't turn to him, even as he continued. "I heard that you were on the lower floors earlier." At least Billy got a nod this time. "You shouldn't be running about right now. You're still really injured."

"I'm healing, just not fast enough."

"Well, you're gonna have to deal with it right now." Danny blew his gravity-defying bangs up only to have them fall in the exact same manner. "I'm serious Danny."

"You sound like my sister."

Billy brushed off the comment, "I brought some dinner." That got Danny to turn towards him and notice that Billy was carrying another plastic bag. "It's sandwiches for tonight!" Billy threw Danny's portion at him, his smile sent something sharp into Danny's chest, Billy shouldn't be that happy for a simple meal. It should be a common thing rather than a luxury.

"Thank you," Danny said with reverence, "I mean it."

"No problem." It was clear that Billy hadn't been taught to not speak with his mouth full. "I did what anyone would've done."

"Not everyone."

The pattern continued for a few more days. Billy would bring food in the morning and evening while Danny would save as much as he could in the can-cabinet (Billy had yet to notice) and Danny would get up and wander around the room whenever he felt he had the strength to. He had gotten bored enough to read the newspapers that Billy had stashed away. There were a lot of cool things he was learning about superheroing from the papers. When they ate together Danny noticed that there were times that Billy would rush through his food and race off for something, though Billy hadn't given him an honest answer as to what yet.

It was the fifth day of Danny's stay that Billy had first stayed the night in the room. It was jarring for Danny who'd fallen into a pattern and was now thrust into guilt for keeping the child from his bed. It was then that Billy had finally tried to understand why Danny had reacted to Captain Marvel the way he had.

"So, Danny," He had started, "what do you think of the Justice League?"

"They're pretty cool, Superman and Martian Manhunter are the coolest though."

"What!? Why?" Billy felt attacked, not literally, but left out.

"They're aliens."

"So?"

Danny had made sure that Billy was looking him in the eyes, "They are from _space_."

Billy wanted to laugh, Danny's abrupt changes into his 'Batman tone' as Billy had privately dubbed it, always came at the most ludicrous times. Instead, he settled for a smile, "I thought your favorite would be Captain Marvel since he lives here too."

"You do know that I'm not actually from here, right Billy?"

"You aren't?"

"Nope."

"Then how did you get here with that wound?!" Billy was stressing out now, because if this wasn't a problem in Fawcett then it was going to be so hard to deal with alone. Danny had shut down at the comment though, clammed up tighter than those jam jars that Billy could never open. "At least tell me where you're from." Silence. "Please."

Whoever had taught Billy to make that face was evil, pure evil. There was no way he could not give the kid what he wanted. "Amity Park."

"Isn't that a major tourist trap or something like that?" How did Batman phrase it? "A hoax of ghosts?"

Danny shook his head, "The ghosts are very real."

"Is that what gave you your injury?"

Danny laughed at that. "There's no ghost that would ever do this to a human." Though Danny wasn't all that sure about Skulker and halfas, he'd rather never find out. Billy had a grim expression on his face, he had to do something about this, no one should ever have to go through what Danny had gone through. Danny had caught the contortion of Billy's face though, "Don't worry about it Billy, the people who did it won't do it to anyone else."

"Then why did they do it to you?" The only response Billy got was a cheeky grin that wasn't real. It didn't match with the Danny he'd gotten to know. Danny was a funny teen that was super nice. He respected Billy in a way that very few people had. There were times where Billy forgot why Danny was there, he'd just become so integral in Billy's daily routine that it seemed natural for a teen to be taking up the bed. But then, he'd do something that just brought back the picture of a tortured boy, laying in a pool of blood into his mind.

Life continued and Billy and he were beginning to eat some of the food from the can-cabinet. (Billy was not happy that Danny was trying to save the food.) Inevitably, Danny was starting to get scoldings from the other 'residents' who knew he was still bunking with Billy. He patiently waited for them to finish their lectures and thanked them for their concern over Billy. Many were taken aback by his response and a new phrase began circulating the building, "There's two of them!" Neither Billy nor Danny would ever catch on to the fact, but the residents were astounded by the compassion both boys had.

Of course, everyone had their own moments with Billy but now the second boy was rooting himself within their hearts. There were times where someone took pity on the injured boy and stopped by to keep him company and while he was left alone, they'd just sit and talk. The teen, Danny, always seemed willing to listen and talked about life with such vigor that they wondered what made him cling to it for so long. And, no matter what they talked about, anyone who'd visited Danny couldn't help but feel a little lighter than they had before.

Danny was like an older version of Billy, acutely aware of the dangers of life and evils in humanity and yet standing, unjaded, for all the world to see. When someone mentioned Billy's motto to Danny he agreed, though with a different perspective.

"Do good and good will come," Danny hummed in thought. "Billy's right. When we chose to do good, good _will_ come, even if it's not to us. It will be good, and someone will gain something from it, we can only have faith that it'll inspire good within others as well. Why would I withhold goodness from others?" He had said it with a smile, though the rumors said that it was a painful sight to see.

The next Saturday, Billy came back with a shirt for Danny and suddenly Danny understood why Billy said that they were on the canned food.

"You aren't supposed to get clothes for me with your radio pay!" Danny yelled at the boy. It had been the first fight they had with each other, a surprise to the other residents (though it really shouldn't have been in retrospect). "Get what you need, not-" Danny didn't know how to express his frustration. "Not whatever this is." He made it a point to fling the shirt around. "You're eleven, you're not supposed to be helping a charity case like me."

"You're my friend, Danny." Billy wasn't going to take a tantrum from a teenager with no sense of self-preservation. "I can give you whatever I want, and you are not going to waste a week of work just to tell me no."

That was as far as their verbal spat had gotten, for the next two days both of them had been committed to giving the other the silent treatment. Eventually, it turned into a competition, who could get the other to say something to the other first. Danny had won when Billy came home to find his room had curtains, some reusable water bottles, and a comb.

"Where'd you get all that?!" Billy had clamped his hand over his mouth as Danny laughed at him.

Once Danny calmed down Billy still demanded to know how he'd gotten so much stuff. "Same as you, I got some jobs around the town. Also, did you know that you have a super cheap thrift store eight blocks that way?" Danny was pointing in the direction of a water tower.

"What's a thrift store?" Billy felt his question was poor given Danny's gawking and as Danny reassured him it wasn't, he felt overcome with embarrassment.

The day after their little competition had finished, someone decided to launch an attack on Fawcett. It was a dangerous situation for everyone involved and Billy had rushed out of school to change into Captain Marvel. Once he'd gotten the situation to something half-manageable Batman called him over the comms.

"Hey Bats, I'm kinda busy right now."

"Everyone's busy Marvel, this attack is being launched all over the world. Get to the watchtower now."

"On it." With that, he flew into the sky.

Danny, on the other hand, had been trying to defend some of the kids at the school Billy was _supposed_ to be attending right then, without any of his ghost powers. If it was under normal circumstances it would've been so easy to fight these things off, but he could feel his wound being pulled open by the excessive stress he was putting it under and it the pain was affecting his battle prowess.

"Is everyone here?!" He shouted to the teacher as he punched one of the robot bugs. RoBugs!

"I can't find Billy!" She shouted over the screeching of metal and children

"I'll find him! Get everyone to the gym!" She looked hesitant to trust a teenager but Danny's firm "NOW!" quickly changed her mind.

He was grateful as the children were ushered off to safety. He continued to help the other classes but was getting too worn out to keep himself limited to his superior strength and pain tolerance. He balled his fists and began firing off ecto-blasts left and right. It did a lot to subdue all the RoBugs but he still couldn't find Billy. There were very few stragglers left and it seems as Fawcett had safe zones for everyone to get to should the need arise. Danny prayed that Billy had gotten to one, now he just needed to figure out where these things were coming from.

He clenched his jaw, bracing for the pain. "Going Ghost." Sure enough, the ectoranium was still there and slowly eating away at the Fenton-fishing-line and the scar tissue that had only recently begun to form. He overshadowed the RoBug and tried to assimilate as much information as he could. They were being controlled by something on some island by some Professor Ivo.

It was a trap for the Justice League. Well wasn't that lovely? Now Danny had to go and help out. He got out of the RoBug which was actually a Battlement Electromagnetic Analogue Terminal Learning Engine or B.E.A.T.L.E for short. Danny decided to stick with RoBugs. Danny flew as quickly as he could to get to the island before the Justice League.

"What's happening?" Captain Marvel asked. He was the last one there, as usual. It's not like he had a T.V. to let him know when the entire world was being attacked and it never looked like he was beaten up or hurt in any of his fights because of his brand of powers. He always looked like a slacker compared to these guys.

"It's Ivo," Batman answered as everyone else eyed Marvel with frustration. They must've already been debriefed. "we'll catch you up on our way, come on."

Batman gave him the rundown of everything, the typical stuff. Ivo had systematically taken control of multiple satellite grids that were helping him control all the B.E.A.T. (there was no way Marvel would remember what that stood for). Ivo had plans for eternal life, again and the B.E. .Es were extracting something from the citizens- whatever the victims were the best at.

The island that they arrived at had a gigantic dish protruding from the tree line and, with no surprise, the path Batman was creating for them led straight to it. Batman tapped on the wall of the satellite, "This is a building, Flash?" With a nod, Flash ran around the building.

"Door's to the left." Flash had a goofy grin on his face, "Guess we can't do the _right_ thing this time." Marvel chuckled while everyone else, minus Flash, brooded their way to the door. "At least someone knows what a good joke is." Marvel cast Flash a smile as they walked into the building.

There were some B.E.A.T. to fight, but nothing they couldn't handle, they continued through the echoing building, trying to find Ivo as they did so. Marvel was walking next to Superman when he no longer could. His body just froze, he couldn't move at all, he couldn't even cry out for help. As he watched the retreating backs of rest of the league, he realized they were missing Diana, J'onn, Canary, and Green Arrow. He could feel the needle enter his neck and leave it. He could feel it when metallic arms were gripping him, pulling him away from the remaining members of the League.

He was pulled to some tube thing, he was forced to watch as a different version of a B.E.A.T.L.E, both larger and bulkier sealed him in it. There was a hissing sound, it got cold, and Marvel couldn't breathe.

When Danny found the island, he tumbled to the ground panting, choosing to change back into Fenton for a moment, just to relieve some of the pain. "Should've brought the kit here too." The wound had reopened, he was going to ruin the new shirt if he didn't change back now. "Going Ghost." He had to get to the satellite dish. He shot ahead, going as fast as he could right off the bat and went intangible, passing through the wall easily. He rushed to disable the traps that would go off the moment the league arrived- they had all gone off already. He raced down the path Ivo predicted they'd take to find Batman and Flash fighting against one of the really big RoBugs as Superman was being carried off by these tiny green accented RoBugs, stiff as a board.

Danny shot an ectoblast at the little ones trying to redirect their attention. "Over here, you boy band groupies!" Sure enough, they abandoned their target and began attacking Danny, or trying to at least. They were easy enough to pick them off, even easier with a larger ectoblast. He tried to get Superman's muscles moving again, but they were too stiff for him to move. Instead, he joined up with Batman and Flash.

"Want some help?" Danny didn't wait for an answer as he targeted one of the limbs with his ice.

"Cool!" Flash wasn't about to turn down an extra hand, much less an opportunity for wordplay. "What's your name kid." He only received a grunt as the kid immobilized another two limbs on the creature. Batman threw another one of his batarangs and this time instead of balancing itself when it exploded the creature fell over and couldn't lift its weight from off the ground. Turns out those limbs were important.

"Looks like a turtle," Danny muttered as sweat was beginning to form on his brow. He landed on the ground flat footed and stumbled before regaining his bearings. "I know where they took everyone and where the Ivo guy is."

"And where would that be?" Batman did not have the patience to negotiate and this kid didn't look like he had the ability to stand up for much longer.

"I can take you there." Danny wouldn't be able to do much more than that, but he was sure he could get them there. He grabbed their hands, to which both men were alarmed by, though not as much as they were when they passed through the floors and walls as they flew.

"You a Martian kid?"

"No" Danny grunted as he pulled them to the 'Statue Room' as Ivo had labeled it. They saw all their comrades frozen, stuck within glass tubes in some stance that made it seem as though they were simply walking. Statues capturing the moment of an average day. "I'll go grab Superman. Be right back."

The two professional superheroes watched as the flying teenager flew back the way they'd come. Flash began releasing their teammates who remained frozen as they got them out of the tubes while Batman turned to the computer that took up half of the space and began typing away at it, trying to figure out what had caused their current state of being.

When Danny got back to the Statue Room, he gently set Superman down next to Wonder Woman. Flash had turned to him in hopes of getting a solution. "Do you know what happened to them?"

"I didn't understand it."

Flash didn't care, he would grasp at any straws, "What do you remember him saying."

Danny didn't bother correcting the man, "Something about neural receptors and insulators and Viltian?"

Batman froze at that moment. "They're dying, we need to wake them up!" He threw one of his batarangs at Marvel who was forced to stand within the full force of the blast. The captain dropped to his knees.

Groggily he asked, "What happened?"

"No time, we need you to zap everyone." For a moment Marvel thought it was Danny pulling off one of his serious not so serious moments but seeing that it was Batman giving him the order he got to it. Zapping the ground, letting the current carry itself through the ground and to everyone in the room. Most everyone yelped at the surge of energy and Marvel swore he heard Danny for a second.

Danny would've been extraordinarily hurt by the lightning if he wasn't in so much pain already. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw that all the heroes he'd been looking up to before he had become one, were okay. They weren't statues anymore, even if they were panting like they just escaped drowning.

He watched as Batman approached him, "You said you knew where Ivo is?" Danny raised his arm and pointed towards the only door into the Statue Room. Batman said nothing as he walked towards the door, the rest of the league falling in behind him.

They caught Ivo placing glass vials into a machine that was supposedly going to take him down. "How'd you get into that room!" Ivo shrieked. "Manhunter was the first to be taken out!"

"I can phase too." Flash crossed his arms, unappreciative of his exclusion.

"Flash, stop pouting." Batman directed.

"Yeah, yeah." He raced to restrain Ivo who decided it was a great time to begin ranting about how he would've been able to defeat them with just a push of a button. "This seems a bit anti-climactic, right? It's not just me, right?" Everyone else seemed to brush the comment off, keeping the mood dour. Even Captain Marvel didn't rise to the question. "What's wrong?"

Wonder Woman was the first to identify the issue, "Where's the child that was with you two?" Superman and Marvel were the first to rush back to the Statue Room to find the boy leaning against the wall, barely able to stand up.

"Did you guys win?"

The feeble voice was all Superman needed to pick up the boy. "We need to get you to the Watchtower."

"No," came the weak reply. "Don't take me in. Please. I'm alive. I'm a good guy." The boy continued to ramble; his fear of the league was probably the only thing keeping him awake. They didn't know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Batman stepped up to the two of them. "Please, don't hurt me." Batman found the zipper on the jumpsuit and gently pulled down. Two inches was all he needed to see the green blood.

"Get him to the medbay." Superman and Marvel nodded and hurried; Marvel breaking through the walls of the building and Superman carrying the boy. Green Lantern and Flash stayed behind, retrieving as much information as they could from the tower while everyone else followed the path that the two heavy hitters had made for them.

The three heading to the medbay had gotten there within six minutes and began hooking up the kid to the vital readers. That meant that they'd have to remove the jumpsuit from the boy, at least the top. That was when rest of the league had gotten there, the top had just been removed and Superman had explained the injury with one painful word. "Vivisection."

Batman rushed to the child's side, he was barely awake, "How long?"

"I don't know it's getting worse rig-" Bright white rings passed of the body and green was replaced with red. The white hair turned black and Marvel was presented with a very familiar picture.

"Guys," Marvel piped, his voice higher than it had any right to be so long as he was Marvel, "I know him." The whole room stopped in that moment, frozen like a picture. "Take off the shirt!" Marvel ordered Superman, not caring about anything but his friend. "Batman, help me. Please. I don't know what to do."

"Then don't take charge, Marvel," Batman growled. "Diana, water! Arrow, gauze, and lots of it! J'onn, try to figure out what his vitals are supposed to be at! Superman, take off the old bandaging. Marvel!"

"Yes?!"

"What do you know about this kid?"

"His name's Danny and he's from Amity Park."

"Age?"

"Fifteen."

Batman did nothing but nod like that had been what he was expecting. "Did he need anything special?"

Marvel thought back to the time he spent with Danny. Was there anything on him? There was the weird first aid kit. Maybe it had something to do with his powers! "I'll be right back!" Marvel shouted, some hope filling his bosom. He raced back to Fawcett, and into his room. Where was it?! He didn't see it. "Come on Solomon, I need you _now_." It was then that the thought struck him. _Under the bed._ He dropped down to the floor, looking under the bed and sure enough, there it was.

"Thank you," Marvel whispered before he took off into the skies once more.

The sight Danny was greeted to when he woke up was terrifying. Well, it was Batman, so it was either be excited to meet another superhero or be terrified that someone who worked with the government was stitching him up. Danny tried to pull away, phasing out of the thread, only he couldn't phase out of it. Why was Batman using the Fenton-fishing-line?

"Calm down Daniel." It was Batman's hand that pushed him down, back onto the table. "We aren't going to hurt you."

"What about the Guys in white?"

"The who?" A new voice entered the conversation, Danny thought he could see a flash of red and white. Was that Captain Marvel?

"They've been dealt with," Batman informed him. "Your family's been freed and the GiW has been disbanded. The anti-ecto laws are being discussed among the politicians right now and you are currently under the protection of the Justice League."

Danny's eyes widened, "Really?" At Batman's nod Danny felt his muscles relax and the hand pinning him down was removed. "What about Fawcett and Amity? Is everyone okay?"

"Amity was able to protect itself. I believe they had a dragon?" Batman had nearly finished the stitches.

"And what about Fawcett? There was a boy I was staying with. Is he okay? He said his name was Billy Batson!"

"Do you want to tell him, Marvel?" Batman asked whilst the addressed hero stumbled over his thoughts. The stitches were done.

"Wha- How, I thought- When- How did you find out?"

Batman began wrapping the glowing bandages around the teenager. "You can thank Daniel-"

"Danny"

"Danny," Batman corrected without a hitch, "for that. I was looking for him and found Captain Marvel."

"Okay," Danny started, "I know Fawcett's Marvel's place, but I feel like I'm missing something. Anyone wanna explain this to me?"

Batman had finished with the bandages and turned towards the red-clad man, "You feel like telling him?"

Danny sat up on his own, looking at Marvel who had been passed the baton, figuratively of course. Whoever had taught Danny to make that face was evil, pure evil. There was no way Marvel couldn't give the teen what he wanted. Grumbling, Marvel looked upwards. "SHAZAM!"

Lightning struck and the smoke cleared to reveal Billy Batson, who couldn't help but wrap his friend in a hug, which Danny accepted. "I'm glad you're safe," Billy said, squeezing the boy tighter.

"Me too."

**A/N: **This was longer than I expected it to be. I always liked the concept of a really young kid becoming a superhero and there were a lot of parallels between Billy and Danny. In both how they see the world and how they became the heroes they became. I had planned a more intense fight scene but it wouldn't really make sense with Danny's interference with Ivo's plan. Does anyone want to guess what was happening? Flash and GL do find out and fix it.


	13. Confined

**Confined**

Valerie attacks Vlad after d-stabled, he traps her within her suit and uses her as a hostage for Danny.

Val had just let Phantom go. She knew it was the right thing to do, maybe not the best, but the best her hatred would let her do. He was a good guy and she knew that intellectually, but it wasn't settling in her heart yet. She couldn't put much faith in him, though his willingness to keep to his side of the deal had made her want to believe in him. Now all she had to do was check on Vlad and try to help him clean up the mess Plasmius had left him with.

Then she saw it and everything she ever knew spun out from under her feet. Masters was Plasmius and Plasmius was Masters. It made so much sense and yet, no sense at all. She needed to get out of there, she couldn't let him see her.

For weeks, she didn't show up as the Red Huntress, instead, she stayed at home. She couldn't bring herself to fill Vlad's agenda, no matter what her feelings towards Phantom were. She had tried to stay out of it, just like her father had been asking for months. She really did try to live a normal life. At the same time, she couldn't stand by while the city was being attacked.

Eventually, she reentered the fray and fought off some vultures that had been lurking outside the apartment. The following day, Vlad had asked her to come and see him, when she didn't show up, he showed up on her doorstep. Valerie had tried her best to act normally, she'd even let him into the apartment with a smile.

He had been wearing the same smile he wore whenever he talked with her but now it sent a sickening feeling in her stomach, like an eel swimming its way out of her stomach and up her throat. "You seem well, I was worried. You haven't been out since the accident."

"Yeah." Even Tucker would've been able to hear the tightness in her voice, "I figured I should be focusing on school."

"An admirable goal, one I wish Danny would turn his attention to as well."

"Danny?"

"Ah, I suppose he hasn't told you yet." Vlad was looking down on her, there was no way she would've missed that. Vlad was acting different and it set her on edge. "Though I doubt you told Phantom about what you saw after you came back."

Val summoned her suit instantly and pointed the most easily accessible weapon she had at him. _He knew. _"Get out!"

Vlad tsked at the girl, "Protocol GreySleeper." Val felt her suit shut down. Not only was it shut down, but she'd been cut off from it. Ever since it had been modified by that loudmouth ghost it had been a part of her. It had become an extension of herself, like a second skin. Now she felt as though she'd been cocooned in a spider's web as the suit dropped like a fly, dragging her down with it. "You do remember who it was that gave you that thing, right?"

Vlad picked up the girl and threw her over his shoulder. "Let's get you somewhere with a bit more privacy." Vlad transformed into Plasmius and they flew off in some direction. Val couldn't make out anything through her visor's black screen.

She felt herself being tossed off and fell to her side. She couldn't move, the suit, no doubt the source of her current position clung to her body and it was in no longer within her control. It was still there, a part of her body, she could still feel it in the foundations of her mind and in the fibers of her muscles. It was just cut off from her control. The closest things she could liken it to were the tales she had heard about phantom pains for amputee limbs. Phantom would have a riot with that analogy.

She could hear the typing of a keyboard, the ruffling of papers, clothes and the pulsing of her own blood as everything went quiet. She hadn't dared to speak, too terrified of what would happen, could happen. It felt like hours before she heard anything else, surely it hadn't been so long, but her frame of mind couldn't grasp what the actual time was. The moment that she heard something, she felt her body want to jump, but her suit wouldn't let her. Instead, her heart decided to leap into her throat and stay there for some time.

"So, you are awake." That was Vlad's voice. Was he addressing her? "Don't worry Miss Grey, your knight in glowing armor should be here as soon as he gets home."

Of course, she would hope for safety of some sort but she couldn't imagine who Vlad would get to try and rescue her. It was for that reason that she couldn't keep the word from slipping past her lips. "What?"

"You're far too useful to kill, not to mention you're far too young to die."

That… was not what she was expecting. It didn't make sense, not when "Dani was younger than me."

"Who?" If the man-ghost could see through the visor he'd be terrified. At least, Valerie was trying to convince herself of that. "Ah, you mean that mistake? It was never meant to exist in the first place."

"How can you say that!" Valerie really wanted to beat in his skull.

"I created it and it failed to fulfill its purpose."

"Maybe she chose to fulfill her own life instead."

The sounds stopped again, and Val froze in terror once more. Had she said something wrong? Had she made Plasmius angry? She really didn't want to know what he was like when he was angry. Now, she could feel the blood pulsing in her ears and neck. She closed her eyes, trying to control her breathing. What would Plasmius do? She had a feeling she didn't want to know.

"I never thought of that."

The sounds returned, somehow quieter, softer and slower than before. Val didn't say anything again. Not until Phantom had come in to rescue her and even then, something felt off with the man ghost. It was almost as though he had given up. There wasn't any other reason for Phantom being able to get her out of there so quickly.

When the ghost had sat her down, trying to get her off he had said, "What'd you say to him." Apparently, he had caught Plasmius's strange behavior too.

"I don't know?"

"Well, thank you." Val could feel her suit return to her control, "Whatever happened in there seems to have made him rethink things."

"What things?" Phantom never gave her an answer.

**A/N:** Originally, this was going to have a different ending. Anyone wanna try and guess what that was?


	14. D&D

**D&D**

Comparison between Vlad's strategy that's akin to chess to Danny's D&D style of strategy

"UGH!"

Jazz had heard the sound coming from her brother's room and instantly feared for the worse. She grabbed the first aid kit and hurried to Danny. She didn't bother knocking if Danny was hurt there would be no way he'd let her in. And yet, he seemed perfectly fine when she had burst in. Danny had jumped, startled by her but only rolled his eyes the moment he noticed the white box in her hand.

"I'm fine Jazz."

"Really?" Jazz did not believe her brother at all, why else would he have mad that sound. He could've woken up their parents.

"Yes." Oh, he was frustrated. "I'm just mad."

Jazz set the kit on his dresser and sat in his desk chair, "Why?"

"Vlad." He laid down on his bed, face buried into the pillow as he seemed to rant, aggravated.

"Danny, I can't hear you." Jazz had tried to be gentle and coax his problems out of him but he'd just sent her this glare. It wasn't a dark glare but painted a more irritated expression.

"You're not going to psycho-whatever me Jazz." She gave him a smile and he drilled into his pillow again, the same position as before. Danny didn't like the quiet when he was upset, it drove him to rant. "It's just…" Oh. This wasn't going to be a rant- his voice was too exasperated for that. He shifted so that he was laying on his side, not bothering to look at her. "I hate playing these games with him. He's always one step ahead of me. He's like a chess wizard or something. It's like he knows what I'm going to do before even I do. I'm sick of getting beaten up by him. He's controlling _everything_ and I hate it."

"Danny…"

"I mean, I know we're at a stalemate when it comes to identities and what now, but he's got Val under his thumb and he may as well have the entire school board under it too." He curled up underneath his sheets. "We both know that Dad will believe anything he says. I don't like it, but I can't do anything about it."

"Well, you're right about one thing." Jazz took on a voice that was somewhere between Mom and Mr. Lancer and Danny knew what was coming; a dreaded pep talk. "You'll never beat Vlad if you think of life as a game of chess."

"You suck at making me feel better."

"Just listen," she snapped, "you play a completely different game when you go off and fight him, or any other ghost." Danny tilted his head towards her just slightly, she still couldn't see his face but so be it. "Are you familiar with Dungeons and Dragons?"

That got Danny to look at her, "It's like that super nerdy game with wizards and knights and stuff, right?"

"It's not _that_ nerdy." Jazz defended; she had a lot of classmates that played it. "Besides, the entire concept is about thinking outside the box, using your head to get through the encounters or fights. There aren't a lot of restrictions on what you can do or try. The hardest thing is to make a plan work."

"Jazz, I have no idea what you're trying to say."

"Vlad looks at life like it's a chess game and you see it as a Dungeons and Dragons game."

Danny's face scrunched up. "So, I need to start looking at the world like chess?"

"No!" Sheesh, sometimes she wondered how she and he were related. "You need to stop trying to see this game like Chess."

"I don't get it."

"Vlad believes that there are limits, lines that cannot be crossed-"

Danny snorted, unable to keep himself from interrupting, "Clearly they don't stop him from trying to kill dad."

"True," she inclined her head, signifying that she understood the weight of his comment, "but it means that he won't see other things from happening. He can't make his rook- that's the horse" She amended after seeing Danny's blank look, "move the same way a castle can and his king will only ever be able to move a single space at a time. But you Danny, you can make any character do whatever you want. You experiment, lend everyone's strengths to one another, ready to help at every turn. You can change a fight into a meeting of new friends. Vlad can't."

"So, what you're telling me is that Vlad is a stick in the mud while my superpower is imagination?"

"No!" Jazz exclaimed, "Vlad's caged in this tiny little box while you're able to think outside the box in a way that Vlad never can."

Danny sat up, looking upset for some reason, "Why didn't you just say that then?!"

"Because it's not that simple Danny." Jazz yawned; what time was it? "You're smart Danny, you can do things I never can and not just because you're a ghost." She couldn't help but let her voice soften as she continued, "You weed yourself into everyone's heart, Danny, you can bring people of all kinds together. You're a natural leader when you feel like you need to be.

"Not only that, but you can trust others and find strength in your faith in them. I can't do that." Danny was gawking at her, that, she could live with. "You are capable of doing more because you believe more is possible. You believe that others can do impossible things and, more often than not, you're right, Danny. Just have a little faith in yourself, okay?"

Danny nodded mutely and laid back down as Jazz got up from the chair. "Good night, Danny."

"'Night Jazz."

And that was all for the night.


	15. Alternate Ending

**Alternate Ending**

Phantom may have revealed her identity to her father, but there was no way she was going to let him keep her out of this fight. She was going to defend her home and the only family member she still had, whether her father let her or not. Turns out, he wasn't willing to let his daughter go; she didn't care. The moment Phantom had taken off, Valerie shot off, following him deeper into the ghost zone. She shouldn't need her mask in the zone anyway.

"Go back home, Val!" The ghost seemed angry that she was following him.

Val couldn't help but scoff in response. "And miss the chance to take you out after the fight's over?"

"Really?" Phantom seemed like he had more to say but that was when they came upon a horde of skeletons ghosts.

As they fought together, she found it disconcerting that Phantom had yet to throw quips around. He seemed serious. It also looked as though he was covering all her blind spots, so she did the same for him. Sure, they had worked together once before, but she'd never felt like an equal when compared to him. Usually, he found it so easy to slip under her radar or get the drop on her. Now though, they were fighting as equals, together. She liked not being alone when she fought, she hadn't realized that before.

Then the other ghosts joined up with them. She hadn't been expecting that and she hadn't bothered paying attention to what Skulker and Phantom were talking about. Phantom could go ahead and be the diplomat. She still had to take care of all these skeletal ghosts and the more ghosts that got in the fight better. She would be able to take care of them all after the fight, one by one. They were all fighting together and when Phantom approached the greatest of the threatening ghosts with Plasmius of all ghosts, Val took off in their direction. There was no way she would leave the fate of Amity in the hands of the two most malevolent ghosts that Amity had seen (excluding this new ghost).

The all fought together. She would never openly say that it was fun, but it had been. Working with others- even if they were ghosts- felt nice. Too bad they'd always be evil. At least, that's what she had thought before the big machine Phantom had taken had a white ring appear around its midriff, splitting into two rings as each moved down/up the body of the suit.

For some reason, the suit was no longer bearing the Phantom logo. That had to mean that Phantom had been significantly weakened. She could take him out now that he wasn't able to project his identity onto the Fenton's machine. Her leg was tingly and she was exhausted, but there was no way she was going to let Phantom get away from her now. As she made her way to the machine Plasmius got in her way.

"Don't look!" The ghost had positioned himself between her and the suit. It was strange to see the ghost defending Phantom to be the same one that Phantom had his most violent and difficult fights with. Luckily for her, Plasmius looked just as ragged as she felt, she could make her way to the suit. And, she did so. Weaving around the ghost only to have him grab her hair. She yelped at the sudden pulling of her hair.

It was too late.

She had seen what Plasmius hadn't wanted her to see. There was no longer a ghost piloting the suit but a young man. One that was in her class. She froze, going numb to her surroundings. Why was Fenton in the suit? That meant that Phantom was Fenton, right? Fenton, her crush, was dead? She watched as Plasmius snatched the boy from the armor and carefully picked her up, almost cradling her, dragging them all back to Amity. She felt light-headed

She could barely recognize what was happening. There was no way Danny was dead, he couldn't be. He was too… alive for that to be true. And on top of it all, he was the kindest person she'd ever met. There was no way he could be an evil ghost, much less Phantom. Then again, Phantom hadn't ever been the first one to attack her, excluding the stupid dog thing he'd pulled. But what if that wasn't really his fault?

There was that issue with the mayor and the robberies too. Her blood seemed to be pounding through her body, struggling to fill some void in her spirit. There was no excuse for any of those things, but what if it really wasn't his fault? Nothing made sense anymore. Oh, they were back at Amity now. When did that happen?

Plasmius was looking at her with this strange look. Like he was guilty or something. He sighed. Since when did ghosts sigh? A ring formed around him too, this one was black though. It passed over him just like Danny's had and then, there was Mr. Masters. She felt nauseous.

"Miss Grey." He was trying to get her attention, she knew that but, she didn't register it, she couldn't. "Valerie." She looked at the man. "Daniel deserves none of your hate. I used you." Her face was still blank, and Mr. Masters seemed to be trying to keep himself from panicking. "I'm sorry, but we're going to need to get you and him medical attention." He was eyeing her leg. "You especially."

Valerie looked down, her leg was bloodied, stained a red four times darker than what her suit usually was. She could see the muscle and was pretty sure that the white stuff was bone. When did that happen? He tried to pick her up once he had laid Danny on the ground. He looked really worn out. As Vlad tried to lift her up she squirmed. She didn't want to go with him. He lied to her, right?

"Calm down!" The man's voice had a sharp edge to it, but it didn't bug Valerie, she'd already been cut down to the bone. A little more wouldn't hurt. "You have to trust me!" His voice was suddenly dulled, maybe the exhaustion was getting to him? Val could use that! She struggled more. "Stop!" Vlad nearly dropped her, and Val went stiff in fear. That was right, her life was in his hands. She had to play nice if she wanted to live.

The man took it and began to hurry (as humanely as possible) towards the hospital. "I'm sorry." There was something in his voice, something Val knew, but didn't want to place. Her leg hurt so much right now. "I'm so sorry Miss Grey. This is all my fault."

What was he talking about? What had happened again? Why were people staring at them? Oh. They were at a hospital, weren't they? Who were they going to see? She hadn't been in a hospital since her mom had passed away in one. Was her dad okay? Did something happen to him? The pretty lady with the purple pajamas was trying to take her away from Mr. Masters. Was Mr. Masters the one hurt? She was beginning to get worried.

Who was in the hospital? She thought she had saved Amity. Well, Phantom- no, Danny did, but she helped! She wanted to protect her dad. Please don't let her dad be hurt. Please. Please. She didn't care about anyone else. Let her dad be okay. Please. She could feel the tears pricking the corners of her eyes. "Where's dad?" She asked. "Is dad okay?"

"He's fine." One of the pajama people said, "How are you feeling?"

"Is this a sleepover?"

"We're going to need a blood transfusion quick!" The pajama people began bustling around the room. They looked funny but she liked the bed. It was nice and comfy. She could sleep here forever. It'd be nice. Nothing would change. She didn't care if anyone wanted her up. She was going to sleep now. "What's your blood type?!"

Valerie drifted off into dreamland

* * *

The first time she woke up, it was day time and her Dad was there. He was safe and unhurt. He was awake and they had a conversation, though she didn't remember much, she knew she promised her dad that she wouldn't hunt Phantom anymore.

The second time it the daytime again and the room was empty, and she felt so alone for those few minutes before she drifted off.

The third time, Danny was there with her dad. He looked so scared, but he was there for her. All she had said that time was, "Thank you."

The fourth time she woke up, it was nighttime, and Mr. Masters was sitting- and sleeping- in a chair. She didn't know whether to be grateful or creeped out. On one hand, he had been the first person who had given her a goal to aspire to while believing that she could, then he had probably saved her life if she understood what had happened to her. On the other hand, he was an adult watching her while she slept. It was a hospital though… She settled on some middle ground in limbo.

She'd deal with the two human-ghost people after she got better and spent some time with her dad.


End file.
